LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Deceived 
Accession  No.  $  /  Y  \5~^  ....   Class  No. 


FORD  EXCHANGE. 

G4 


THE  CITIZENS  OF  TROY, 


emorp 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


ALBANY,  N.  Y. : 
J.  MUNSELL,  78  STATE  STREET. 

1865. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Introduction, vii 

Friday,  April  14th,  the  day  of  the  assassination, 1 

Saturday,  April  15th, 1 

Assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  by  George  Evans,....  2 

Proceedings  in  the  Rensselaer  County  Court, 4 

Proceedings  in  the  Police  Court, 5 

Orders  of  the  National  Guard, 6 

Scenes  in  the  City, 7 

Service  at  St.  John's  Church, .4 9 

Address,  by  Martin  I.  Townsencty. ."...*...'...' 15 

Other  Services, 19 

The  Assassination  of  the  President,  by  John  M.  Francis,  20 

Our  Duty  on  this  day,  by  B.  H.  Hall, 22 

The  National  Calamity  and  Humiliation,  by  F.B.  Hubbell,  24 

Abraham  Lincoln,  by  James  S.  Thorn, 27 

Proclamation  by  the  Governor, 28 

Recommendation  of  Bishop  Potter, 29 

Citizens'  Meeting, 30 

Sunday,  April  16th,  31 

"  Hung  be  the  Heavens  with  black/'  by  C.  L.  MacArthur,  31 

Extract  from  a  Sermon,  by  Rev.  Henry  C.  Potter,  D.D.,  32 

Sketch  of  a  Sermon,  by  Rev.  S.  D.  Brown, 36 

Sermon,  by  Rev.  Jacob  Thomas, 43 

Sermon,  by  Rev.  D.  S.  Gregory, 47 

Sermon,  by  Rev.  Edgar  Buckingham, 66 

Other  Services, 78 

Monday,  April  17th, 87 

Announcement  by  the  President, 87 

The  Assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  by  A.  G.  John 
son,  88 


iv  CONTENTS. 

The  National  Bereavement,  by  W.  E.  Kisselburgh, 90 

The  Death  of  President  Lincoln,  by  Mrs.  E.  Van  Sant- 

voord , , . . . .  92 

Common  Council  Proceedings, 93 

Address,  by  Maj.  Gen.  John  E.  Wool, 96 

Request  of  the  Committe  of  the  Common  Council, 97 

Resolutions  of  respect,  by  Jewish  Citizens, 98 

Tuesday,  April  18th, 99 

Announcement  by  the  Mayor, 99 

Orders  to  the  Tenth  Brigade  and  the  Twenty-fourth 

Regiment, 100 

Proceedings  at  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute, 101 

Wednesday,  April  19th, 104 

Discourse,  by  Rev.  C.  P.  Sheldon,  D.D., 104 

Sermon,  by  Rev.  J.  Wesley  Carhart,  D.D., 116 

Address,  by  Rev.  D.  S.  Gregory, 127 

Address,  by  Rev.  Duncan  Kennedy,  D.D., 136 

Sermon,  by  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Prime, , 151 

Service  at  the  Jewish  Synagogue, 157 

Other  Services, 160 

Thursday,  April  20th, 165 

Friday,  April  21st, 166 

Resolutions  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Rensselaer 

County, 166 

Saturday,  April  22d, 168 

"  Sic  Semper  Tyrannis,"  by  E.  H.  G.  Clark, 168 

Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Julia  A.  Burdick, 169 

A  Dirge,  by  A.  S.  Pease, 175 

Invitation  from  the  Common  Council  of  Albany, 177 

Order  of  the  National  Guard, 177 

Sunday,  April  23d, 178 

In  Memoriam  A.  L.,  by  B.  H.  Hall, 178 

Sermon,  by  Rev.  Marvin  R.  Vincent, 181 

Substance  of  a  sermon,  by  Rev.  Erastus  Wentworth,  D.D.,  223 

Substance  of  a  sermon,  by  Rev.  Edgar  Buckingham, 229 

Meeting  of  the  Concordia  Society, 237 

Monday,  April  24th, 238 


CONTENTS.  v 

Proclamation  by  the  President, 238 

Common  Council  Proceedings, 240 

The  Guard  of  Honor, 241 

Tuesday,  April  25th, 242 

Announcement  by  the  Mayor, 242 

Invitation  by  the  Twenty-fourth  regiment, 242 

Proceedings  of  the  Executive  committee  of  the  Troy 

Young  Men's  Association, 243 

Meeting  of  Veteran  Officers, 244 

Officers'  Meeting. 245 

Wednesday,  April  26th, 245 

An  Account  of  the  Participation  of  citizens  of  Troy  in 

the  obsequies  at  Albany, 245 

Thursday,  April  27th 254 

Resolutions  of  the  Troy  Young  Men's  Association, 254 

Friday,  April  28th, 255 

Decline  of  Amusements,  by  F.  B.  Hubbell, 255 

Saturday,  April  29th, 256 

Proclamation  by  the  President, 256 

The  month  of  May, 257 

"  To  everything  there  is  a  season/'  by  James  S.  Thorn,...  257 

A  dirge,  by  Josiah  L.  Young, 258 

Lincoln  and  Cicero,  by  B.  H.  Hall...... 260 

Letter,  and  Order  of  Services,  by  Bishop  Potter, 265 

Proclamation  by  the  Mayor, 267 

Thursday,  June  1st, 268 

Discourse,  by  Rev.  Thomas  W.  Coit,  D.  D., 268 

Address,  by  Charlton  T.  Lewis, 279 

Discourse,  by  Rev.  David  T.  Elliott, 297 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Hugh  P.  McAdam, 318 

Other  services, 329 

Common  Council  Proceedings, 333 


ERRATA. 

Page   33,  line  14  for  not  read  no. 

"  56,  "  22  for  Gods  read  God's. 

"  91,  "      3  for  loose  read  lose. 

"  100,  "      1  for  Forty  read  Twenty. 

"  153,  "  20  for  public  read  republic. 

"  164,  "  17  for  volumnious  read  •voluminous. 

"  216,  "      1  for  o/"  read  to. 

"  265,  "  16  for  Agreeably  read  Agreeable. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  tokens  of  grief  and  indignation  so  generally 
shown,  when  it  was  made  certain  that  Abraham  Lin 
coln  was  dead,  gave  at  once  the  clearest  proof,  not 
only  of  the  deep  detestation  with  which  his  foul 
assassination  was  regarded,  but  also  of  the  warm 
esteem  in  which  he,  who  for  four  years  had  guided 
the  affairs  of  the  nation,  was  held  as  a  ruler  and  as 
a  man.  In  many  countries  an  event  of  this  nature, 
happening  at  such  a  juncture  of  affairs,  would  have 
been  followed  by  an  uprising  of  the  people,  resulting 
in  scenes  of  indiscriminate  and  passionate  vengeance. 
Here,  however,  a  different  result  was  witnessed.  In  a 
few  instances,  men  of  virulent  nature  and  seemingly 
lost  to  human  sensibility,  who  had  expressed  a  modi 
fied  approval  of  the  dreadful  deed,  received  unmistak 
able  warning  of  the  danger  of  indulging  a  sentiment 
so  brutal.  But  the  indignation  of  loyal  men  found 
vent,  for  the  most  part,  in  efforts  to  arrest  the  mur 
derer  and  his  abettors,  whoever  they  might  be,  and  in 
demands  for  their  condign  punishment. 

The   spontaneousness   and   depth   of  the   sorrow 
evinced  on  this  occasion,  bring  to  remembrance  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

account  given  of  the  occurrences  consequent  upon  the 
death  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney  in  the  year  1586.  The 
grief  of  the  people  of  England  at  his  loss,  say  his 
biographers,  was  wide-spread  and  sincere.  His  body 
was  brought  to  London  and  there  interred,  although 
the  subjects  of  his  late  government  in  the  Netherlands 
begged  that  it  might  be  suffered  to  remain  among 
them,  and  offered,  should  their  request  be  granted, 
"to  erect  for  him  as  fair  a  monument  as  any  prince 
had  in  Christendom,  yea,  though  the  same  should  cost 
half  a  ton  of  gold  the  building."  His  funeral  was 
performed  with  great  circumstance  and  pomp,  "the 
seven  United  Provinces  sending  each  a  representative 
to  testify  respect  for  his  memory  by  their  vicarious 
presence  at  his  obsequies."  The  universities  of  Cam 
bridge  and  Oxford,  also,  "  poured  forth  three  volumes 
of  learned  lamentation,  on  account  of  the  loss  of  him 
whom  they  considered  as  being  their  brightest  orna 
ment;  and  indeed  so  far  was  the  public  regret,  on 
this  occasion,  carried,  that,  for  the  first  time  in  the 
case  of  a  private  individual,  the  whole  kingdom  went 
into  mourning,  and  no  gentleman  of  quality,  during 
several  months,  ventured  to  appear  in  a  light  colored 
or  gaudy  dress,  either  in  the  resorts  of  business  or  of 
fashion." 

Of  a  similar  nature,  but  wider  in  extent  and  more 
varied  in  expression,  was  the  mourning  for  Abraham 
Lincoln.  In  truth,  history  does  not  present  another 
instance,  in  which  the  grief  of  the  civilized  world  has 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  ix 

been  unitedly  expressed  with  such  real  earnestness,  at 
the  loss  of  any  man,  be  he  public  ruler  or  private 
citizen.  Throughout  the  north  the  manifestations  of 
sorrow  were  well  nigh  universal.  The  funereal  tolling 
of  bells ;  the  booming  of  minute  guns ;  the  sable 
draperies  that  shrouded  the  fronts  of  buildings  both 
public  and  private,  and  garbed  the  interiors  of  places 
of  public  worship  and  the  chambers  of  legislation  and 
the  halls  of  various  organizations  ;  the  flags  at  half 
mast  or  furled  and  festooned  with  crape ;  the  emblem 
atic  decorations  expressive  of  grief;  the  noble  senten 
ces  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  departed,  set  forth  in 
grand  lettering  on  the  extended  canvas ;  the  craped 
arm  of  private  citizen  as  well  as  of  soldier  and  gov 
ernment  official ;  the  black  rose  of  sorrow  or  the 
features  of  the  dead  in  miniature,  worn  like  a  decora 
tion  of  honor  on  the  garment ;  the  mourning  border 
which  edged  the  sheet  of  paper  on  which  man  wrote 
to  his  fellow  ;  the  black  lines  dividing  the  columns  of 
the  daily  and  weekly  journals ;  the  multitudinous 
representations  of  those  honest  features  in  every  home 
and  office  and  counting-room  and  shop  window ;  the 
varied  delineations  that  filled  the  pictorial  papers  to 
repletion ;  the  solemn  dirges  sung ;  the  prayers  utter 
ed,  instinct  with  the  earnest  inspiration  of  the  soul; 
the  churches  thronged  with  mourning  worshippers  ; 
the  impassioned  utterances  of  those  who  minister 
at  God's  altars ;  the  eyes  of  the  strong  man  filled  with 
unaccustomed  tears ;  the  weeping  of  women,  the 
B 


X  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

clouded  faces  of  little  ones,  whose  being  seemed,  for  a 
time,  overshadowed  by  a  mysterious  and  sympathetic 
awe ; — these  manifestations  rendered  those  dark  April 
days,  in  this  year  of  victory  and  sadness,  memorable 
and  historic  beyond  all  precedent. 

Then  came  the  grand  and  solemn  obsequies.  The 
funeral  at  Washington  inaugurated  the  imposing 
ceremonies,  and  for  two  weeks,  the  procession,  start 
ing  from  that  city,  passed  through  the  land  to  the 
wailings  of  a  bereaved  and  stricken  nation.  At  Balti 
more,  Harrisburg,  Philadelphia,  New  York.  Albany, 
Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Indianapolis  and  Chi 
cago  the  funeral  scene  was  repeated,  and  thus  the 
honored  and  beloved  dead  was  borne  to  his  western 
resting  place.  Springfield — once  the  home,  now  the 
grave  of  Abraham  Lincoln  —  where  the  obsequies  be 
gun  at  Washington  were  ended,  is  henceforth  sacred 
among  the  shrines  of  the  earth,  sacred  to  every  lover 
of  labor,  common  sense,  humanity,  patriotism  and 
God. 

In  the  pages  that  follow,  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  preserve  a  record  of  the  manner  and  the  words 
in  which  the  respect  of  the  citizens  of  Troy  was 
expressed  for  the  memory  of  the  late  President,  during 
the  period  intermediate  the  day  of  the  assassination 
and  the  day  designated  as  one  of  humiliation  and 
mourning  for  the  nation.  In  other  cities  throughout 
the  land,  similar  observances  obtained,  and  in  many 
places  the  manifestations  of  sorrow  were  accompanied 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xi 

by  displays  of  solemn  grandeur.  Not  the  least  re 
markable  feature  of  this  period,  was  the  unanimity 
with  which  the  journals  of  the  United  States  joined 
in  the  general  tribute  of  sorrow  and  respect  which 
was  rendered  to  the  memory  of  the  great  patriot. 
The  press  of  the  other  continent  sympathized  with 
these  sentiments,  and  its  eulogy  and  admiration  were 
declared  in  language  as  sincere  and  impassioned  as  any 
that  was  uttered  in  this  land.  The  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  Mr.  Lincoln  reached  England  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  April.  On  the  day  following,  appeared  in 
the  editorial  columns  of  the  London  Star,  a  leading  arti 
cle  on  his  assassination,  which  is  here  inserted  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  not  only  the  immediate  effect 
produced  by  the  event  in  England,  but  also  to  enable 
the  reader,  by  comparing  this  extract  with  the  leaders 
of  our  own  journals  on  the  same  subject,  to  observe 
that  in  the  old  world  and  in  the  new,  those  who  best 
understood  his  character  were  most  eulogistic  of  him 
as  a  man,  and  deplored  his  death  as  a  loss  not  only  to 
his  country  but  to  the  world. 

"  The  appalling  tragedy  which  has  just  been  perpe 
trated  at  Washington  is  absolutely  without  historical 
precedent.  Not  in  the  records  of  the  fiercest  Euro 
pean  convulsion,  in  the  darkest  hour  of  partisan 
hatreds,  have  we  an  example  of  an  assassin  plot  at 
once  so  foul  and  so  senseless,  so  horrible  and  so  suc 
cessful,  as  that  to  which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  has  al 
ready  fallen  a  victim,  and  from  which  William  H. 


xii  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Seward  can  hardly  escape.  Only  in  such  instances 
as  the  murder  of  William  of  Orange,  of  Henri  Quatre, 
or  of  Capo  d'Istria,  have  we  any  deed  approaching  in 
hideous  ferocity  to  that  which  has  just  robbed  the 
United  States  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  their  Presi 
dents.  But  from  the  fanatic's  hateful  point  of  view 
there  was  at  least  something  to  be  said  for  men  like 
Balthazar  Gerard  and  Ravaillac.  They,  at  least, 
might  have  believed  that  they  saw  embodied  in  their 
victims  the  whole  living  principle  and  motive  power 
of  that  religious  freedom  which  they  detested.  They 
might  have  supposed  that  with  the  man  would  die 
the  great  hopes  and  the  great  cause  he  inspired  and 
guided.  So,  too,  of  Orsini.  That  unfortunate  and 
guilty  being  believed,  at  least,  that  in  Napoleon  the 
Third  there  stood  an  embodied  and  concentrated 
system.  But  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  no  dictator  and 
no  autocrat.  He  represented  simply  the  resolution 
and  the  resources  of  a  great  people.  The  miserable 
excuse  which  fanaticism  might  attempt  to  plead  for 
other  political  assassins  has  no  application  to  the 
wretch  whose  felon  hand  dealt  death  to  the  pure  and 
noble  magistrate  of  a  free  nation.  One  would  gladly, 
for  the  poor  sake  of  common  humanity,  have  caught 
at  the  idea  that  the  crime  was  but  the  work  of  some 
maniacal  partisan.  But  the  mere  nature  of  the  deeds, 
without  any  additional  evidence  whatever,  bids  de 
fiance  to  such  an  idea.  While  the  one  murderer  was 
slaying  the  President  of  the  Republic  the  other  was 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

making  his  even  more  dastardly  attempt  upon  the 
life  of  the  sick  and  prostrate  Secretary.  It  does  not 
need  even  the  disclosures  which  have  now,  too  late 
for  any  good  purpose,  reached  official  quarters  to 
prove  that  two  madmen  cannot  become  *  simul 
taneously  inspired  with  the  same  monstrous  project 
and  impelled  at  the  one  moment  to  do  their  several 
parts  of  the  one  bloody  business.  The  chivalry  of 
the  south  has  had  much  European  compliment  of 
late.  It  has  been  discovered  to  be  the  fount  and 
origin  of  all  the  most  noble  and  knightly  qualities 
which  the  world  heretofore  had  principally  known 
through  the  medium  of  mediaeval  romance.  Let  it 
not  be  forgotten  that  southern  brains  lately  planned 
the  conflagration  of  a  peaceful  city.  It  never  can  be 
forgotten  while  history  is  read  that  the  hands  of 
southern  partisans  have  been  reddened  by  the  foulest 
assassin  plot  the  world  has  ever  known,  that  they 
have  been  treacherously  dipped  in  the  blood  of  one 
of  the  best  citizens  and  purest  patriots  to  whom  the 
land  of  Washington  gave  birth. 

For  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  one  cry  of  universal  regret 
will  be  raised  all  over  the  civilized  earth.  We  do  not 
believe  that  even  the  fiercest  partisans  of  the  confede 
racy  in  this  country  will  entertain  any  sentiment  at 
such  a  time  but  one  of  grief  and  horror.  To  us 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  has  always  seemed  the  finest 
character  produced  by  the  American  war  on  either 
side  of  the  struggle.  He  was  great  not  merely  by 


xiv  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  force  of  genius — and  only  the  word  genius  will 
describe  the  power  of  intellect  by  which  he  guided 
himself  and  his  country  through  such  a  crisis  —  but 
by  the  simple,  natural  strength  and  grandeur  of  his 
character.  Talleyrand  once  said  of  a  great  American 
statesman  that  without  experience  he  *  divined '  his 
way  through  any  crisis.  Mr.  LINCOLN  thus  divined 
his  way  through  the  perilous,  exhausting,  and  unpre 
cedented  difficulties  which  might  well  have  broken 
the  strength  and  blinded  the  prescience  of  the  best- 
trained  professional  statesman.  He  seemed  to  arrive 
by  instinct — by  the  instinct  of  a  noble,  unselfish, 
and  manly  nature  —  at  the  very  ends  which  the 
highest  of  political  genius,  the  longest  of  political 
experience,  could  have  done  no  more  than  reach.  He 
bore  himself  fearlessly  in  danger,  calmly  in  difficulty, 
modestly  in  success.  The  world  was  at  last  beginning 
to  know  how  good,  and,  in  the  best  sense,  how  great 
a  man  he  was.  It  had  long  indeed  learned  that  he 
was  as  devoid  of  vanity  as  of  fear,  but  it  had  only  just 
come  to  know  what  magnanimity  and  mercy  the  hour 
of  triumph  would  prove  that  he  possessed.  Reluctant 
enemies  were  just  beginning  to  break  into  eulogy 
over  his  wise  and  noble  clemency  when  the  dastard 
hand  of  a  vile  murderer  destroyed  his  noble  and  valu 
able  life.  We  in  England  have  something  to  feel 
ashamed  of  when  we  meditate  upon  the  true  great 
ness  of  the  man  so  ruthlessly  slain.  Too  many  En 
glishmen  lent  themselves  to  the  vulgar  and  ignoble 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  XV 

cry  which  was  raised  against  him.  English  writers 
degraded  themselves  to  the  level  of  the  coarsest  cari 
caturists  when  they  had  to  tell  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
They  stooped  to  criticise  a  foreign  patriot  as  a  menial 
might  comment  on  the  bearing  of  a  hero.  They 
sneered  at  his  manners,  as  if  Cromwell  was  a  Chester 
field  ;  they  accused  him  of  ugliness,  as  if  Mirabeau 
was  a  beauty ;  they  made  coarse  pleasantry  of  his 
figure,  as  .if  Peel  was  a  posture-master;  they  were 
facetious  about  his  dress,  as  if  Cavour  was  a  D'Orsay  ; 
they  were  indignant  about  his  jokes,  as  if  Palmerston 
never  jested.  We  do  not  remember  any  instance 
since  the  wildest  days  of  British  fury  against  the 
'Corsican  Ogre,'  in  which  a  foreign  statesman  was 
ever  so  dealt  with  in  English  writings  as  Mr.  LINCOLN. 
And  when  we  make  the  comparison  we  cannot  but 
remember  that  while  Napoleon  was  our  unscrupulous 
enemy  Lincoln  was  our  steady  friend.  Assailed  by 
the  coarsest  attacks  on  this  side  the  ocean,  tried  by 
the  sorest  temptations  on  that,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
calmly  and  steadfastly  maintained  a  policy  of  peace 
with  England,  and  never  did  a  deed,  never  wrote  or 
spoke  a  word  which  was  unjust  or  unfriendly  to  the 
British  nation.  Had  such  a  man  died  by  the  hand  of 
disease  in  the  hour  of  his  triumph  the  world  must 
have  mourned  for  his  loss.  That  he  has  fallen  by  the 
coward  hand  of  a  vile  assassin  exasperates  and  em 
bitters  the  grief  beyond  any  power  of  language  to 
express. 


xvi  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Had  LINCOLN  been  a  vain  man  he  might  almost 
have  ambitioned  such  a  death.  The  weapon  of  the 
murderer  has  made  sure  for  him  an  immortal  place  in 
history.  Disappointment,  failure,  political  change, 
popular  caprice,  the  efforts  of  rivals,  the  malice  of 
enemies,  can  touch  him  no  more.  He  lived  long 
enough  to  accomplish  his  great  patriotic  work,  and 
then  he  became  its  martyr.  It  would  be  idle  to  specu 
late  as  yet  upon  the  effect  which  his  cruel  death  will 
produce  upon  the  political  fortunes  of  his  country ; 
but  the  destinies  of  that  country  will  be  cared  for. 
Its  hopes  are  too  well  sustained  to  faint  and  fall  even 
over  the  grave  of  so  great  a  patriot  and  so  wise  a 
leader  as  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  There  are  still  clear 
and  vigorous  intellects  left  to  conduct  what  remains  of 
LINCOLN'S  work  to  a  triumphant  conclusion.  Dramatic 
justice  has,  indeed  been  marvellously  wreaked  thus 
far  upon  the  criminal  pride  of  the  south.  A  negro 
regiment  was  the  first  to  enter  Richmond,  and  now 
one  of  the  poor  whites,  the  'white  trash '  of  a  south 
ern  state,  is  called  to  receive  from  the  south  its  final 
submission.  We  trust  and  feel  assured  that  even  in 
this  hour  of  just  indignation  and  natural  excitement 
the  north  may  still  bear  itself  with  that  magnanimous 
clemency  which  thus  far  has  illumined  its  triumph. 
But  it  may  be  that  the  conquered  south  has  yet  to 
learn  that  it  too  must  mourn  over  the  blood}'  grave  to 
which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  has  been  consigned  by  a 
southern  assassin's  hand." 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xvii 

On  other  pages  of  the  same  paper,  was  published 
the  story  of  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  from  which, 
for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  the  fervor  with  which 
the  cause  of  the  United  States  was  upheld  by  millions 
of  Englishmen,  and  the  exultation  with  which  they 
viewed  the  onward  march  of  freedom  and  humanity, 
the  following  extracts  are  taken. 

"  In  the  moment  of  victory,  Abraham  Lincoln  has 
been  stricken  to  death.  Not  on  the  battle  field,  where 
so  many  noble  patriots  have  laid  down  their  lives  for 
freedom,  not  by  the  unseen  shaft  of  disease  before 
which  the  greatest  and  noblest  must  sooner  or  later  fall 
—  but  brutally  murdered  by  an  assassin  of  the  slave 
power  while  he  sat  beside  his  wife  enjoying  a 
mucli  needed  relaxation  from  the  heavy  cares  of 
state.  Noble,  generous,  forgiving,  his  only  thoughts 
since  the  capture  of  Richmond  have  been  of  mercy. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  cabinet  on  the  morning  of  his 
death  he  spoke  very  kindly  of  Lee,  and  others  of  the 
confederates,  and  while  his  thoughts  were  thus  all  of 
forgiveness,  the  miscreant  stole  behind  him  and  shot 
him  through  the  brain.  Unconscious  from  the  mo 
ment  he  received  the  fatal  wound,  the  great  and 
noble-hearted  patriot  breathed  his  last  on  the  following 
morning.  Nothing  else  was  needed  to  sanctify  the 
name  and  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  all  lovers  of  freedom 
throughout  the  world,  than  this  his  martyr-death. 
Raised  from  the  ranks  of  the  common  people  to  take 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  the  most  gigantic 
struggle  the  world  has  ever  witnessed  between  the 
forces  of  freedom  and  slavery,  he  guided  the  destinies 
of  his  country  with  unwavering  hand  through  all  the 
terrors  and  dangers  of  the  conflict,  and  placed  her  so 
high  and  safe  among  the  nations  of  the  world  that 
the  dastards  of  despotism  dare  no  longer  question  the 
strength  and  majesty  of  freedom.  With  a  firm  faith 
in  his  God,  his  country,  and  his  principles  of  freedom 
for  all  men,  whatever  their  color  and  condition,  he 
has  stood  unmoved  amid  the  shock  of  armies  and  the 
clamors  of  faction  ;  he  quailed  not  when  defeat  in 
the  field  seemed  to  herald  the  triumph  of  the  foe ;  he 
boasted  not.of  victory,  nor  sought  to  arrogate  to  himself 
the  honors  of  the  great  deeds  which  have  resounded 
through  the  world;  but,  gentle  and  modest  as  he  was 
great  and  good,  he  took  the  chaplet  from  his  own 
brow  to  place  it  on  the  lowly  graves  of  the  soldiers 
whose  blood  has  been  so  liberally  poured  forth  to 
consecrate  the  soil  of  America  for  freedom.  He  dies 
and  makes  no  sign,  but  the  impress  of  his  noble  char 
acter  and  aims  will  be  borne  by  his  country  while 
time  endures.  He  dies,  but  his  country  lives  ;  free 
dom  has  triumphed ;  the  broken  chains  at  the  feet 
of  the  slaves  are  the  mute  witnesses  of  his  victory.  It 
was  on  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth  of  April,  the  day 
which  saw  the  federal  flag  raised  once  more  on  Fort 
Sumter  amid  the  hoarse  reverberation  of  cannon  and 
the  cheers  of  liberated  slaves,  that  the  President  re- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xix 

ceived  his  death  blow.  The  wretched  conspirators 
who  sought  to  destroy  their  country  that  slavery 
might  triumph  over  its  ruins  panted  for  Lincoln's  life 
since  the  day  he  was  first  elected  to  guide  the  destinies 
of  the  republic.  When  in  the  act  of  passing  from 
his  home  in  Illinois  to  assume  the  reins  of  office  he 
was  apprised  by  General  Scott  that  the  barbarians  of 
slavery  had  resolved  to  assassinate  him.  The  plan 
was  to  raise  a  riot  in  Baltimore  as  he  passed  through 
that  city  on  his  way  to  Washington,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  tumult  Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  be  slain.  The 
messenger  who  brought  the  newTs  of  the  conspiracy 
to  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Harrisburg  was  Frederick  W.  Sew- 
ard,  son  of  the  statesman  who  now  lies  low  beside 
his  chief,  stricken  dowrn  by  another  desperate  miscre 
ant  on  the  same  day  as  the  President.  Mr.  Lincoln, 
with  his  usual  prudence,  at  once  stopped  in  his  tri 
umphal  progress  towards  the  capital,  and,  disguised 
as  a  countryman,  passed  safely  through  Baltimore  by 
the  night  train,  and  arrived  at  the  White  House 
in  Washington.  The  speech  which  he  made  to  his 
neighbors  of  Springfield  when  he  set  out  on  his 
perilous  mission  has  a  mournful  interest  in  view  of 
his  sudden  and  awful  death.  At  the  railway  depot 
on  Monday,  the  eleventh  of  February,  1860,  a  large 
concourse  of  his  fellow  citizens  had  assembled  to  bid 
him  farewell.  'My  friends,'  he  said,  'no  one  not  in 
my  position  can  appreciate  the  sadness  I  feel  at  this 
parting.  To  this  people  I  owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I 


xx  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

have  lived  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ;  here 
my  children  were  horn,  and  here  one  of  them  lies 
buried.  I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again. 
A  duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is,  perhaps,  greater 
than  that  which  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man  since 
the  days  of  Washington.  He  never  would  have  suc 
ceeded  except  for  the  aid  of  Divine  Providence,  upon 
which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot 
succeed  without  the  same  Divine  aid  which  sustained 
him,  and  on  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reli 
ance  for  support,  and  I  hope  you,  my  friends,  will  all 
pray  that  I  may  receive  that  Divine  assistance  without 
which  I  cannot  succeed,  hut  with  which  success  is 
certain.  Again,  I  bid  you  all  an  affectionate  fare 
well.' 

The  touching  address  was  given  with  deep  emotion, 
and  many  of  the  auditors  replied  to  his  request  for 
their  prayers  by  exclaiming,  i  We  will  pray  for  you.' 
Thus  this  devout,  simple-hearted,  and  courageous 
man  went  forth  to  his  high  task,  not  leaning  on  his 
own  strength,  but  humbly  trusting  in  the  power  of  an 
Almighty  arm.  Those  gentle  utterances  are  but  the 
key  to  all  the  speeches  and  proclamations  which  he 
has  made  during  his  troubled  career.  No  one  ever 
heard  him  utter  a  bitter  word  against  the  rebels,  but 
many  have  confessed  that  they  felt  rebuked  in  his 
presence,  his  manner  was  so  calm,  his  thoughts  and 
words  were  so  magnanimous,  his  great  heart  was  so 
full  of  gentleness  and  compassion.  And  yet  it  is  this 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xxi 

man  who  has  been  held  up  to  the  southern  people  by 
the  lying  politicians  and  most  mischievous  journalists 
of  the  south  as  a  kind  of  human  demon  who  delighted 
in  blood,  as  a  man  regardless  of  law  and  justice,  who 
when  he  spoke  of  God  or  humanity  spake  but  in 
mockery  of  the  sacred  name  and  the  sacred  rights  of 
the  people.  The  southern  heart  has  been  fired,  as 
the  phrase  went,  by  the  most  furious  appeals  to  the 
passions  of  an  ignorant  people  against  a  ruler  who 
never  would  have  touched  a  single  southern  right  or 
harmed  a  real  southern  man  had  these  truculent 
politicians  not  crowned  their  frenzy  by  rebellion. 
Even  in  the  midst  of  the  late  most  sanguinary  out 
burst  of  ferocity  he  has  mitigated  the  woes  of  war, 
and  so  tempered  justice  by  mercy  that  not  a  single 
traitor  has  perished  on  the  scaffold.  We  would  that 
we  could  add  that  the  passions  of  the  southern  dema 
gogues  were  sought  to  be  assauged  by  the  universal 
efforts  of  the  press  and  the  politicians  of  those  coun 
tries  where  the  American  struggle  excited  an  over 
whelming  interest.  But  history  will  proclaim  to  the 
eternal  humiliation  of  our  country  how  an  influential 
section  of  the  English  press  outbade  the  journalists  of 
the  south  in  their  slander  and  invective  against  the 
great  man  who  has  been  so  cruelly  slain — how  his 
every  action  was  twisted  and  tortured  into  a  wrong, 
his  every  noble  aspiration  spoken  of  as  a  desire  for 
blood,  his  personal  appearance  caricatured,  his  lowly 
origin  made  the  theme  for  scorn,  by  men  as  base-born 


xxii  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

as  he  but  without  the  nobleness  of  soul  which  made 
Lincoln  a  prince  among  princes  —  how  even  that 
proclamation  which  conferred  liberty  upon  four  mil 
lions  of  down-trodden  slaves  was  reviled  as  a  base 
effort  to  incite  the  negroes  to  servile  war.  The  men 
who  penned  those  revolting  slanders  were  probably 
alike  ignorant  and  reckless  of  their  effect,  but  it 
cannot  but  be  a  painful  reflection  to  Englishmen  that 
the  deluded  southern  rebels  were  encouraged  in  their 
efforts  to  destroy  a  free  nation  for  the  purpose  of  build 
ing  a  slave  empire  on  the  ruins  by  the  writings  and 
speeches  of  men  who  could  boast  of  free  England  as 
their  country.  Their  virulent  abuse  in  all  probability 
never  reached  him  whom  it  was  designed  to  wound, 
and  even  if  the  miserable  writers  had  been  factious 
Americans  instead  of  degenerate  Englishmen,  Lin 
coln  would  have  had  nothing  but  a  smile  for  their 
malignant  efforts.  Nor  had  these  unworthy  effusions 
any  effect  upon  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  Eng 
land.  They  saw  at  once  the  sterling  integrity  and 
appreciated  the  high  purpose  of  the  American  ruler; 
they  took  the  universal  testimony  of  the  people  of  the 
country  over  which  he  ruled  in  preference  to  the 
partisan  abuse  of  the  pro-slavery  organs,  so  that  long 
before  the  emancipation  proclamation  was  issued  the 
efforts  and  intentions  of  Abraham  Lincoln  were 
thoroughly  understood  by  the  Commons  of  Great 
Britain.  "When,  however,  the  moment  had  arrived 
for  Lincoln  calling  a  race  to  freedom,  and  the  news 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xx\{{ 

was  received  in  this  country  that,  so  far  as  the  fiat  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  in  the  execution 
of  his  constitutional  authority  during  a  state  of  war 
could  strike  the  fetters  from  the  slave  and  purge  the 
commonwealth  from  its  foul  stain,  the  order  had  gone 
forth  and  the  slaves  had  a  legal  title  to  their  freedom, 
nothing  could  thereafter  shake  the  faith  of  the  people 
in  the  liberator.  Many  touching  proofs  of  the  sin 
cerity  of  these  convictions  were  afforded  during  the 
struggle.  In  every  public  meeting  of  our  countrymen 
when  the  name  of  President  Lincoln  was  mentioned 
it  was  received  with  a  burst  of  ringing  cheers.  Per 
haps  the  most  notable  occasion  was  when  Henry 
"Ward  Beecher  addressed  the  inhabitants  of  London 
in  Exeter  Hall.  It  was  at  a  time  when  the  pro-slavery 
press  was  most  rampant,  when  for  days  they  had 
been  heaping  upon  the  head  of  Mr.  Ward  Beecher, 
one  of  the  pioneer  abolitionists  of  the  north,  and 
upon  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  the  leader  of  the  abolitionist 
party,  all  the  vials  of  their  abuse,  and  when,  if  ever, 
it  might  have  been  supposed  that  the  cause  of  right 
must  be  overborne  by  the  power  of  slander  and  mis 
representation.  No  sooner,  however,  was  the  name 
of  Lincoln  mentioned  by  Mr.  Beecher  in  the  course 
of  his  speech  than  enthusiastic  cheers,  which  seemed 
as  if  they  would  never  stop,  burst  forth  from  the  vast 
assemblage.  It  was  the  same  everywhere  throughout 
the  country,  and  the  American  people  now  amongst 
us,  stunned  and  overwhelmed  as  they  are  by  the  news, 


xxiv  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

may  believe  that  their  feeling  of  an  irreparable  loss 
is  shared  in  by  the  vast  masses  of  the  English  people. 
For,  in  truth,  a  man  like  Abraham  Lincoln  is  claimed 
by  humanity  as  her  own.  He  was  in  name  and  in 
heart  an  American  citizen,  and  his  great  work  had 
been  appointed  for  him  in  that  new  continent  where 
two  great  battles  have  already  been  won  for  human 
freedom ;  but  he  soon  showed  by  his  actions  and  the 
magnanimity  of  his  character  that  he  belonged  to  that 
illustrious  band  whose  work  is  for  the  human  race, 
and  whose  name  and  fame  shall  never  die  out  amongst 
men.  In  his  hands  was  placed  a  most  sacred  trust. 
In  the  United  States  the  right  of  the  majority  to  gov 
ern,  and  perfect  freedom  to  all  to  take  part  in  the 
business  of  government,  were  the  basis  of  the  constitu 
tion.  It  had  never  been  questioned  until  the  south 
ern  leaders,  defeated  at  the  ballot-box,  sought  to 
achieve  by  the  sword  what  they  failed  to  achieve  at 
the  polling-booth.  The  question  was  the  extension 
or  the  non-extension  of  slavery,  and  the  ultimate 
issue  was  the  triumph  or  failure  of  free  institutions. 
We  need  not  recall  how  triumphantly  the  enemies  of 
freedom  pointed  their  finger  in  scorn  at  what  they 
called  the  failure  of  the  experiment  of  free  institu 
tions.  The  very  uprising  of  the  southern  slave  power 
was  held  to  be  the  end  of  the  republic.  They  never 
dreamed  that  the  obscure  man  of  the  people,  who  had 
been  raised  to  the  highest  post  of  honor  which  it 
was  possible  for  a  citizen  to  fill,  would  grasp  the  helm 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

with  so  vigorous  a  grasp,  and  so  pilot  the  ship  of  state 
among  the  fearful  breakers  as  to  bring  her  safe  to 
port  with  colors  flying  and  not  a  spar  lost.  Alas ! 
that  the  firm  hand  should  now  be  nerveless,  the  bold 
heart  cold  and  lifeless,  and  that  the  cup  of  joy  should 
be  so  rudely  dashed  from  the  lips  of  the  great  people 
whom  he  had  so  faithfully  served  in  the  crisis  of  their 
destiny ! 

The  assassination  seems  unquestionably  to  have 
been  the  result  of  a  conspiracy  to  which  various 
southern  sympathizers  were  parties.  The  villain 
whose  hand  struck  down  President  Lincoln  is  stated 
to  be  a  person  named  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  a  brother  of 
Edwin  Booth,  the  actor,  and  in  his  trunk  was  found 
a  letter  which  showed  that  the  horrid  deed  was  to 
have  been  perpetrated  on  the  fourth  of  March,  when 
Mr.  Lincoln's  second  term  of  office  began.  It  has, 
therefore,  been  no  sudden  inspiration  of  frenzy  caused 
by  the  fall  of  Richmond,  but  the  deliberate  calculation 
of  cold  blooded  miscreants.  The  intention  was  not 
consummated  sooner  because  some  expected  instruc 
tions,  or  aid,  or  encouragement,  had  not  been  received 
from  Richmond.  We  cannot  believe  that  the  designs 
of  the  conspirators  were  known  to  and  approved  by 
the  heads  of  the  southern  government,  but  it  is  not  at 
all  impossible  that  some  leading  secessionists  may  have 
aided  in  the  conspiracy  and  encouraged  its  execution. 
It  was  known  that  the  earlier  attempt  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  about  to  take  office  was  known  to  and 

D 


xxvi  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

approved  by  main7  persons  of  influence  and  standing", 
and  more  than  one  influential  fanatic  in  the  course  of 
the  war  has  openly  offered  rewards  for  the  heads  of 
northern   abolitionists.     The  murder   was   at   length 
effected  in  the   most  cruel  and   barbarous   manner. 
Seated  in  the  theatre  at  Washington,  beside  his  wife 
and  another  lady,  and  attended  by  only  one  officer,  a 
stranger  suddenly  made  his  appearance  at  the  door  of 
the  box,    and    stated  that  he    had  despatches   from 
General  Grant.     That  general  had  been  advertised  to 
be  present  on  the  same  evening,  but  he  and  his  wife 
had  gone  to  Burlington  on  a  visit,     The  simple  state 
of  the  republican  President   permitted  the  stranger 
easily  to  get  access  to  his  victim,  who  it  would  seem 
never  turned  his  head — his  thoughts   probably   far 
away  on  those  fields  of  battle  where  so  many  have 
died  that  the  republic  might  live.     The  assassin   in 
stantly  raised  his  pistol  and  shot  the  President  in  the 
back  of  the  head,  the  bullet  lodging  in  the  brain.    We 
have  as  yet  no  details  of  the  scene  of  consternation 
in  the  theatre,   the  anguish  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  the 
despair  of  the  people  when  they  saw  one  so  beloved 
so  basely  smitten  ;  but  there  needs  no   description. 
It  is  easy  to  imagine  it  all  —  all  except  the  unuttera 
ble  anguish  of  the  woman  who  has  been  the  support 
and  solace  of  the  President  during  many  weary  months 
of  anxiety   and  suffering.     To  his  wife  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  tenderly  attached.     His  first  action  after  receiving 
the  notice  of  his  election  by  the  Chicago  convention 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  Xxvii 

of  1860  as  the  candidate  of  the  republican   party  was 
to  leave  his  political  friends  with  whom  he  had  been 
waiting    for    the    news,    and   proceed   home    saying, 
i  There's  a  little  woman  down  at  our  house  would 
like  to  hear  this.     I  will  go  and  tell  her.'     The  barba 
rians  were  not  content  with  this  one  noble  victim. 
About  the  same  time  another,  and  even  more  callous, 
southern   fiend   proceeded   to    the   residence   of   Mr. 
Seward,  and,  under  pretence  of  carrying  medicine  to 
the.  sick  chamber,  managed  to  get  access  to  the  cham 
ber  where  the  secretary  of  state  lay  suffering  from 
his  recent  accident.     Mr.  Frederick  W.   Seward,  the 
son  of  the  secretary,  attempted  to  prevent  him,  but 
was  cruelly  wounded.     A  male  attendant  was  stabbed 
through  the  lungs,  and  then  the    miscreant   sprang 
forward  to  the  bed  and   stabbed  with  many  wounds 
the  statesman  who  lay  helpless.     When  the  cries  of 
the  nurse  and  of  a  young  daughter  who  was  by  her 
father's  bedside  brought  Major  Seward,  another  son, 
to  his  father's  apartment,  the   assassin  likewise    fell 
upon  him   and  severely    wounded    him.     Most   foul 
deed  that  ever  pen  recorded  or  demon  perpetrated ! 
A  sick  man  lying  helpless  on  his  couch  of  pain  thus 
barbarously  assailed,  a  son  eager  to  save  a  father's  life 
thus  foully  wounded !     It  illustrates  in  a  yet  more 
awful  manner  the  innate  barbarism  of  that  system  of 
society  based  on  slavery  which  can  breed  criminals  of 
so  deep  a  dye.     The  official  report  of  Mr.  Stantont 
which  will  be  found  elsewhere,  expressly  states  tha< 


xxviii  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

these  deeds  of  horror  were  the  result  of  a  conspiracy 
among  the  rebels,  and  the  greatness  of  the  enormities 
must  now  prove  to  the  world  that  the  attempt  to  set 
fire  to  New  York,  and  to  destroy  in  one  horrible  holo 
caust  the  women  and  children,  the  aged  and  infirm,  of 
a  populous  city  was  no  hallucination  of  the  federal 
government,  but  a  grim  reality  of  desperadoes  — the 
spawn  of  the  slave  power.  These  are  specimens  of 
that  chivalry  of  the  south  over  which  some  English 
men  and  women  have  been  heretofore  shedding  maud 
lin  tears.  It  is  a  chivalry  which  can  murder  a  gentle 
and  noble  man  in  presence  of  his  wife ;  which  can 
stab  a  father  with  furious  blows  on  his  sick  bed  in 
presence  of  a  little  daughter  who  ministers  to  his 
wants,  and  which  can  ruthlessly  sacrifice  two  sons  as 
they  strive  to  save  a  father's  life. 

******** 

The  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  hailed  with  de 
light  by  the  people  of  the  northern  states,  little  dream- 
ing'that  their  right  to  elect  him  would  have  to  be 
sustained  in  so  fearful  a  manner,  and  when  the  time 
came  for  him  to  proceed  to  Washington  to  execute 
the  functions  of  President  the  whole  country  watched 
his  progress  with  intense  satisfaction.  As  he  passed 
eastwards  he  had  to  make  speeches  at  almost  every 
town  of  any  note,  and  many  of  the  expressions  which 
then  fell  from  his  lips  were  sufficiently  remarkable. 
When  passing  through  Indiana  he  thus  spoke  of  state 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xxix 

rights.  'By  the  way,  in  what  consists  the  special 
sacredness  of  a  state  ?  If  a  state  and  a  county  in  a 
given  case  should  be  equal  in  extent  of  territory  and 
equal  in  number  of  inhabitants,  in  what  as  a  matter 
of  principle,  is  the  state  better  than  the  county?  On 
what  principle  may  a  state,  being  not  more  than  one- 
fiftieth  part  of  the  nation  in  soil  and  population, 
break  up  the  nation,  and  then  coerce  a  proportionably 
larger  subdivision  of  itself  in  the  most  arbitrary  man 
ner  ?  What  mysterious  right  to  play  tyrant  is  con 
ferred  on  a  district  of  country  with  its  people  by 
merely  calling  it  a  state  ?'  In  Xew  Jersey  he  made 
use  of  a  characteristic  expression,  which  has  been 
frequently  quoted  since.  i  I  shall  do  all  that  may  be 
in  my  power  to  promote  a  peaceful  settlement  of  all 
our  difficulties.  The  man  does  not  live  who  is  more 
devoted  to  peace  than  lam,  none  who  will  do  more  to 
preserve  it ;  but  it  may  be  necessay  to  put  the  foot 
down  firmly.'  How  firmly,  the  south,  the  north,  we 
and  all  men  now  know.  When  raising  a  flag  in 
Philadelphia,  he  asked  whether  the  Union  could  be 
saved  upon  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  in 
answering  his  own  question  uttered  words  which  sound 
prophetically  after  the  occurrence  which  has  so  trou 
bled  the  country — 'If  this  country  cannot  be  saved 
without  giving  up  that  principle  I  was  about  to  say  I 
would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  sur 
render  it ' —  and  his  last  words  on  the  occasion  were 
— 'I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am.  willing  to  live 


xxx  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God,  die 
by.'  He  has  stood  by  these  principles  during  his  life, 
and  he  had  completed  the  most  triumphant  defence  of 
these  principles  when  called  on  to  die ;  but  dying  he 
bequeathes  a  new  life  to  the  nation,  and  being  dead  he 
yet  speaketh. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  policy  was  to  woo  the  south  to  sub 
mission  to  the  constitutionally  expressed  will  of  the 
people  by  every  argument  which  would  be  supposed 
to  have  weight  with  American  citizens.  His  inau 
gural  address  was  a  pleading  with  them  to  give  up 
their  mad  design  to  break  up  the  nation,  and  it  was 
thus  he  conjured  them  to  think  well  upon  the  fatal 
step  they  were  about  to  take :  4 1  am  loth  to  close. 
We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be 
enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained  it  must 
not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  cords 
of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle-field  and 
patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth  stone 
all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of 
the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  they  surely  will 
be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature.'  His  appeal 
was  vain.  The  men  to  whom  it  was  addressed  fo'r  a 
long  series  of  years  had  been  educating  themselves 
into  the  monstrous  delusion  that  slavery  was  a  Divine 
institution  ;  that  it  was  the  natural  basis  for  society ; 
that  a  slave  empire  could  be  established  so  powerful, 
that  abolitionism  would  for  ever  be  abashed,  and 
southern  interests  reign  supreme.  The  politicians 


LINCOLN  MEMOEIAL.  XXxi 

clamored  for  war,  the  editors  wrote  up  war,  the 
clergy  preached  up  a  war  for  slavery,  until  the  poor 
deluded  common  people  rushed  blindly  into  the  con 
flict.  The  north  had  no  choice  ;  Mr.  Lincoln  as  the 
President  had  no  choice  but  to  enforce  the  laws,  and 
to  use  whatever  powers  the  constitution  gave  him  for 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion.  This  is  not  the 
place  to  recount  the  varied  fortunes  of  the  field.  In 
the  west  the  national  arms  were  almost  uniformly 
successful,  in  the  east  the  forces  of  the  Union  failed 
to  capture  Richmond  until  weary  years  of  effort  had 
been  wasted  and  several  successive  generals  tried  and 
removed.  But  the  elasticity  of  free  institutions  per 
mitted  of  these  changes  of  commanders,  and  the 
patriotism  of  the  people  supported  the  President  in 
whatever  appointments  he  deemed  best  for  the  fur 
therance  of  the  cause  until  by  his  happy  selection  of 
Grant,  who  had  proved  victorious  in  the  west,  and 
Grant's  no  less  admirable  appointments  of  Sherman, 
Sheridan,  Thomas  and  others,  the  power  of  the  south 
has  been  completely  crushed.  President  Lincoln  at 
first  incurred  much  odium  among  many  sincere 
friends  of  the  slave  in  this  country,  and  was  taunted 
by  the  supporters  of  the  slave  confederacy  because  he 
did  not  from  the  outset  inaugurate  an  anti-slavery 
war.  But  his  true  position  began  to  be  appreciated. 
Some  of  the  border  slave  states  remained  loyal,  and 
he  could  not  at  ©nee  attack  slavery  without  encroach 
ing  upon  the  rights  of  these  loyal  people  to  regulate 


xxxii  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

their  own  affairs.  The  northern  democrats,  moreover, 
polled  more  than  one  million  of  votes,  while  the 
purely  abolitionist  element  among  his  owTn  supporters 
was  comparatively  small.  Had  he  at  once  raised  an 
anti-slavery  banner  in  all  likelihood  he  would  have 
retarded  in  place  of  advancing  the  cause.  He  re 
pressed  all  attempts  prematurely  to  proclaim  emanci 
pation  until  perfectly  satisfied  in  his  own  mind  that 
he  had  the  constitutional  power  during  a  state  of  war 
to  do  so,  and  that  the  proclamation  would  tend  to  les 
sen  the  power  of  the  rebels  and  more  speedily  bring 
peace  to  his  torn  and  bleeding  countiy.  The  policy 
has  been  the  saving  of  the  Union.  The  slaves 
crowded  the  federal  lines  in  order  to  gain  their  free 
dom,  and  eagerly  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege 
to  enlist  under  the  federal  banners  to  aid  in  the  free 
dom  of  their  friends  and  brethren  of  the  negro  race. 
The  emancipation  proclamation  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  a  grand  and  sublime  act ;  and  when,  in  announc 
ing  his  policy  to  Congress,  he  declared  that  they  who 
were  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  those  times  could  not 
escape  history,  he  truly  shadowed  forth  that  all  who 
had  in  any  way  contributed  to  that  crowning  act  of 
justice  would  occupy  in  history  a  most  conspicuous 
and  enviable  place.  The  cause  of  the  Union  has 
prospered  from  the  day  the  proclamation  was  issued 
until  at  length  the  greatest  army  of  the  rebels  has 
surrendered  to  the  great  soldier  whom  President 
Lincoln's  sagacity  selected  as  the  fit  man  to  lead  the 
armies  of  the  republic. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xxxiii 

The  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Lincoln  has  often 
been  described.  He  was  six  feet  four  in  height,  and  of 
that  thin,  wiry  build  which  is  somewhat  characteristic  of 
Americans.  But  all  observers  unite  in  describing  his 
countenance  as  singularly  pleasing,  and  the  eye  mild 
and  gentle.  One  English  observer,  not  particularly 
prepossessed  in  his  favour,  describes  his  countenance 
as  peculiarly  soft,  with  an  almost  feminine  expression 
of  melancholy.  While  all  observers  unite  in  thus 
describing  the  late  President,  those  who  knew  him 
more  intimately  are  equally  of  one  opinion  as  to  his 
disposition  being  as  kind,  courteous,  and  gentle  as  his 
mild  expression  denoted.  He  was  never  heard  to  say 
a  bitter  word  against  the  rebels,  but  invariably  in  his 
public  proclamations  and  by  his  acts  he  sought  to  win 
them  back  to  that  fealty  without  undue  shedding  of 
blood.  But  with  all  this  gentleness  he  was  inexora 
bly  firm.  Men  of  all  parties  have  gone  to  him  to 
attempt  to  move  him  from  some  of  his  positions ;  but 
while  listening  courteously  to  their  statements  he 
never  failed  to  indicate  that  what  he  had  himself  re 
solved,  after  careful  consideration,  he  should  abide  by 
until  he  saw  that  it  was  unsuited  to  the  circumstances 
of  his  country.  He  had  an  overflowing  and  ready 
humor.  This  trait  in  his  character  has  given  many 
shafts  to  the  venomous  slanderers  of  the  great  man 
who  has  been  so  suddenly  removed  from  his  proud 
position  ;  but  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  all 
the  bon-mots  attributed  to  the  President  are  not  genu- 


xxxiv  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

ine.  One  slander  which  has  been  often  repeated  by 
his  enemies  it  may  be  as  well  to  contradict  here  once 
for  all.  It  has  been  asserted  and  re-asserted,  and  now 
apparently  deemed  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  cavil, 
that  Mr.  Lincoln,  when  riding  over  the  field  of  Gettys 
burg,  called  for  a  comic  song  to  drive  away  serious 
thoughts.  The  statement  is  a  gratuitous  and  baseless 
calumny,  invented  by  those  who  would  as  readily  de 
stroy  a  reputation  as  the  southern  assassins  would 
wreak  their  vengeance  upon  a  helpless  victim.  These 
have,  indeed,  accomplished  the  death  of  a  noble- 
hearted  patriot;  but  while  they  have  killed  the  body, 
they  cannot  touch  his  deathless  fame,  they  cannot  mar 
his  glorious  work,  they  cannot  rob  him  of  his  immor 
tal  reward." 

In  full  accord  with  the  sentiments  of  the  English 
press  as  set  forth  in  these  extracts,  was  the  expression 
of  the  feelings  of  Englishmen  in  the  various  meetings 
of  sympathy  held  in  London  and  at  other  places.  At 
the  meeting  held  in  St.  James's  Hall  in  London,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Emancipation  society,  on  the 
evening  of  Saturday,  the  twenty- ninth  day  of  April, 
at  which  "William  Evans,  Esq.,  the  president  of  that 
society,  was  chairman,  the  platform  w^as  filled  writh 
members  of  parliament  and  the  leaders  of  the  popular 
party  in  the  metropolis;  the  hall  wras  crowded  with 
people  who  were  unanimously  in  sympathy  with  the 
speakers  and  the  object  of  the  meeting;  while  the 
sombre  drapery  of  the  hall,  surmounted  by  the  Ameri- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xxxv 

can  flag,  was  a  mute  expression  of  that  deep  grief 
for  America's  loss  which  filled  every  heart.  The 
speeches  were  no  mere  formal  expresions  of  horror  of 
the  crime,  or  regret  for  the  death  of  a  chief  mains- 

'  O  O 

trate  of  great  eminence  and  worth.  These  sentiments 
were  indeed  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all ;  but  those 
who  met  on  that  occasion  were  thoroughly  at  one 
with  the  people  of  the  north  in  their  great  task  of 
subduing  the  slaveholders'  rebellion,  and  building  up 
the  Union  on  the  more  sure  and  enduring  basis  of 
freedom. 

From  the  speeches  delivered  on  that  occasion,  the 
speech  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Forster,  member  of  parliament 
for  Bradford  has  been  selected  as  an  example  of  the 
spirit  that  pervaded  the  meeting,  and  as  an  evidence 
of  the  similarity  of  the  effect  produced  by  the  sad 
event,  on  the  people  and  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  both  in  England  and  the  United  States  Mr. 
Forster  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  The  resolution  which  has  been  entrusted  to  me, 
and  which  I  now  move,  is  as  follows  : 

4  Resolved, —  That  this  meeting  desires  to  give  utter 
ance  to  the  feelings  of  grief  and  horror  with  which 
it  has  heard  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln, 
and  the  murderous  attack  upon  Mr.  Seward,  and  to 
convey  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  to  the  United  States  gov 
ernment  and  people  an  expression  of  its  profound 
sympathy  and  heartfelt  condolence.'  In  moving  this 
resolution  I  wish  to  say  but  a  few  words.  There  are 


xxxvi  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

many  speakers  here  this  evening,  and  you  will  agree 
with  me  that  this  is  a  time  at  which  many  should  have 
an  opportunity  of  trying  to  express  their  feelings,  and 
I  am  sure  that  all  who  speak  will  agree  with  me  in 
saying  that  we  can  find  no  words  that  really  can 
express  what  we  feel.  This  is  a  time  when  that  tie 
of  blood  which  binds  Englishmen  to  Americans,  and 
of  which  we  so  often  talk,  is  indeed  truly  felt.  A  thrill 
of  grief,  horror,  and  indignation  has  swept  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  Europe,  as  this  terrible 
news  has  been  conveyed  to  the  nations,  and  it  pos 
sesses  the  heart  of  almost  every  Englishman  as  though 
some  terrible  calamity  had  befallen  himself.  It  is  to 
the  credit  of  our  country,  and  it  would  indeed  be  to 
our  shame,  were  it  otherwise,  that  such  is  the  case. 
With  very  few  exceptions,  rich  and  poor,  friends  of 
the  north,  and  friends  of  the  south,  all  are  anxious  to 
show  that  they  forget  all  differences  with  our  Ameri 
can  kinsmen  in  social  or  political  arrangements,  all 
disagreements  with  them  in  matters  of  policy,  in 
overwhelming  sympathy  with  them  in  this  their  most 
sore  trial.  But  while  America  has  thus  especial 
claims  upon  the  sympathy  of  England  it  certainly 
does  preeminently  become  that  society,  of  which  you, 
sir,  are  the  chairman,  and  all  of  us,  who,  though  not 
members  of  that  society,  have  advocated  its  principles, 
that  there  should  be  a  restoration  of  the  Union  with 
emancipation  for  its  condition  —  to  take  the  lead  in 
expressing  its  indignation  at  the  assassination  which 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL,  xxxvii 

has  taken  place.  The  freedom  from  the  bond  of 
slavery  will  be  a  blessing  to  this  country  and  to  the 
world,  and  we  hasten  to  come  forward  to  express  our 
sympathy  when  the  man  who  has  done  so  much  to 
obtain  that  result  is  thus  struck  down.  He  was  the 
man  to  whom  of  all  men  it  would  seem  that  God  had 
entrusted  the  duty  of  restoring  the  Union,  and  of 
freeing  it  from  slavery,  and  he  has  been  struck  down 
just  at  that  time  when  he  had  reason  to  hope  that  that 
task,  to  accomplish  which  he  had  been  toiling  with 
such  devotion  and  such  single-minded  earnestness,  had 
been  accomplished.  That  the  commission  of  such  a 
crime  as  this  should  have  been  permitted,  and  permit 
ted  at  such  a  time,  may  well  seem  to  be  a  mystery, 
but 

'  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 

His  wonders  to  perform ; 
He  plants  his  footsteps  in  the  sea, 
And  rides  upon  the  storm/ 

And  are  not  the  whole  of  us  beginning  to  see  that  in 
this  civil  war  which  has  raged  throughout  America, 
and  in  this  fearful  revolution  through  which  this  peo 
ple  are  passing,  God  has  been  working,  and  his  work 
is  still  to  purge  that  country  and  that  people  from  the 
sin  of  slavery  ?  But  this  murdered  patriot  had  read 
the  lesson  and  had  learned  it.  The  handwriting  upon 
the  wall  was  guiding  him.  From  those  words  of 
solemn  beauty  which  he  was  led  to  utter  at  his  recent 
inauguration,  though  even  then  the  knife  of  the  assas- 


xxxviii  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

sin  was  hanging  over  his  head,  he  saw,  it  is  plain,  that 
God  had  willed  that  this  offence  should  cease,  and  that 
there  should  be  woe  upon  all  those,  whether  in  the 
north  or  in  the  south,  through  whom  this  offence  had 
come,  and  if  we  can  thoroughly  prophesy  any  one  result 
that  will  follow  from  this  foul  crime,  it  is  this,  that 
the  offence  will  all  the  more  speedily  cease,  and  that 
slavery  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  Like  you,  sir,  I 
do  not  charge  this  crime  upon  the  leaders  of  the 
south.  It  would  be  unpardonable  of  any  Englishman 
to  add  fuel  to  that  fire  of  anger  and  to  that  burning  of 
heart  from  which  every  American  must  pray  he  may 
be  preserved,  by  saying  or  insinuating  that  any  of 
these  leaders  either  instigated  this  crime  or  were 
acquainted  with  it,  but  I  do  trace  it  to  the  influence 
of  that  system  of  slavery  which  those  leaders  have 
rebelled  and  have  fought  to  preserve.  Doubtless  this 
assassin  and  his  miserable  accomplices  were  men  of 
morbid  nature  and  anomalous  monsters,  but  it  needed 
the  influence  of  such  a  social  system  as  this  —  that 
system  which  gratified  every  bad  passion  and  reeked 
it  upon  the  weak  and  powerless,  and  which  burnt 
black  men  alive,  and  murdered  white  men  because 
they  were  abolitionists  —  I  say  it  needed  the  influence 
of  a  system  like  this  to  train  such  a  miserable  man  as 
this  Booth  to  become  a  parricide.  Any  man  who  has 
studied  the  experience  of  the  last  few  years  must  feel 
that  there  is  no  peace  and  safety  to  that  country  until 
the  system  of  slavery  is  totally  abolished,  and  if  he 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  xxxix 

required  further  proof  that  there  can  be  no  terms 
possible  between  the  Union  and  slavery,  this  must 
convince  him.  I  have  only  one  word  more  to  add, 
and  that  is,  that  we  must  not  allow  the  ship  that 
leaves  our  shores  to-night  to  take  merely  the  message 
of  our  sympathy  with  the  widow  and  the  orphan,  and 
with  that  country  which  has  truly  lost  its  father.  I 
am  sure  this  meeting  will  not  be  content  with  merely 
expressing  its  sympathy  with  our  kinsmen  in  their 
present  calamity,  but  that  we  shall  express  also  our 
faith  in  their  future  and  our  confident  belief  that  we 
have  so  learned  the  lesson  of  our  common  history  that 
even  at  this  hour  of  their  need  they  will  show  what 
strength  a  free  Christian  people  have  to  bear  up 
against  the  blow  than  which  no  greater  one  has  fallen 
upon  a  commonwealth.  They  will  show  how  they 
can  bear  up  against  it  without  their  power  being 
paralysed  and  without  any  diminution  of  their  self- 
reliance  and  self-restraint,  and  may  we  not  also  ex 
press  our  hopeful  trust  that  those  rulers  to  whom 
God  has  now  entrusted  their  fate  will  be  so  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  the  patriot  statesman  they  have  just 
lost,  and  so  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  mingled  firm 
ness  and  moderation  which  has  been  exercised  with 
integrity  and  judgment  under  circumstances  than 
which  none  were  ever  more  trying,  that  they  will 
carry  out  the  good  work  he  began,  and  they  will 
honor  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  which  will  be 
preeminent  in  all  future  history,  and  I  hope  they  will 


xl  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

continue  his  work  of  restoring  peace  to  their  country, 
and  ensure  freedom  to  all  who  dwell  in  it,  undisturbed 
even  by  that  temptation  of  vengeance  to  which  I  be 
lieve  they  will  not  yield,  but  which  must  beset  them 
with  a  strength  proportionate  to  the  unparalleled 
atrocity  of  the  crime  which  has  provided  it." 

In  view  of  sentiments  such  as  have  been  above 
cited,  and  by  comparing  them  with  the  utterances  of 
the  pulpit,  of  the  press,  and  of  popular  assemblies  in 
this  country,  we  can  readily  perceive  the  similarity 
in  the  manifestations  of  humanity  everywhere,  and 
that  there  are  chords  in  the  nature  of  man  which 
wherever  and  whenever  struck  by  certain  influences, 
will  vibrate  in  unison. 

In  after  years,  when  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  shall  remain  as  the  most  glorious  recollection  of 
the  times  which  are  now  passing,  and  when  his  name 
shall  have  become  inseparably  linked  in  the  minds  of 
men  with  all  that  is  grand  in  design  and  godlike  in 
achievement,  it  may  afford  some  slight  gratification 
to  our  descendants  to  know  that  we,  their  ancestors, 
offered  our  modest  but  heartfelt  tribute  of  praise  to 
his  patriotism,  his  integrity,  his  magnanimity,  and  his 

enduring  worth. 

B.  H.  H. 

Troy,  November  14th,  1865. 


LINCOLN   MEMORIAL. 


FRIDAY,  APRIL  14m,  1865. 

At  a  very  late  hour,  persons  connected  with  the 
telegraph  and  newspaper  offices  of  the  city,  were  the 
recipients  of  intelligence  that  an  attempt  had  been 
made  at  Washington,  early  in  the  evening,  to  assassin 
ate  several  of  the  officers  of  the  government,  and 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  and  William  H.  Seward  had 
received  injuries,  which  it  was  feared  would  prove 
fatal.  Later  messages  contradicted  these  statements, 
and  at  midnight  the  few  to  whom  the  conflicting  tele 
grams  were  known,  could  but  surmise  as  to  the  real 
import  of  the  news  received. 

SATURDAY,  APRIL  15ra,  1865. 

Early  in  the  morning,  the  details  of  the '  fearful 
tragedy  enacted  at  Washington  the  evening  previous, 
were  received  by  telegraph,  and  before  daybreak  the 
worst  fears  suggested  by  the  first  contradictory  reports 

were  realized  with  an  intensity  of  horror  unparalleled. 

1 


2  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

The  very  minute  account  of  the  terrible  transaction, 
given  in  the  morning  papers,  left  only  the  faintest 
hope  of  the  recovery  of  the  President  and  Secretary 
of  State.  As  to  the  former,  even  this  hope  was  dis 
pelled,  when  a  few  hours  later  the  news  came  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  had  died  at  twenty-two  minutes 
after  seven  o'clock. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  PEESIDENT  LINCOLN  AND  SECRETARY 
SEWAIID. 

BY  GEORGE  EVANS. 

The  telegraphic  wires  convey  to  us  this'  morning, 
from  Washington,  the  startling  and  terrible  announce 
ment  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  and 
Secretary  Seward. 

In  the  case  of  the  President,  it  appears  that  he, 
with  Mrs.  Lincoln,  last  evening,  attended  Ford's 
Theatre,  and  while  seated  in  his  private  box,  and 
during  a  pause  in  the  play,  a  man  entered  the  box  and 
shot  him  through  the  head,  the  weapon  used  being 
a  common  single-barreled  revolver.  As  soon  as  the 
fact  was  discovered,  the  wildest  excitement  prevailed, 
and  amid  the  tumult  the  brutal  assassin  escaped. 
The  details  are  given  in  full  in  our  telegraphic 
columns. 

Gen.  Grant,  who  it  was  expected  would  accompany 
the  President  to  the  theatre,  left  Washington  during 
the  evening  for  New  Jersey. 

In  the  case  of  Secretary  Seward,  the  assassin  went 
to  his  residence,  and  claiming  to  be  a  messenger  from 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  3 

the  Secretary's  physician,  with  medicine,  demanded 
admission  to  Mr.  Se ward's  chamber.  Being  refused, 
he  used  violence  towards  those  who  presented  them 
selves,  and  forced  his  way  into  the  Secretary's  room. 
Mr.  Seward  was  lying  in  bed,  and  the  cowardly  mur 
derer  inflicted  several  severe,  and,  it  is  feared,  fatal 
wounds  upon  his  neck  and  body. 

This  intelligence  will  cast  a  deep  gloom  over  the 
country.  The  hearts  of  the  loyal  people  of  the  north 
were  centred  in  their  President.  His  honesty  and 
sagacity  have  made  him  the  idol  of  the  nation,  and 
just  when  victory  has  perched  upon  our  banners,  and 
the  storm  of  Avar  is  about  subsiding,  and  just  when 
the  intricate  and  difficult  questions  relating  to  the 
reorganization  of  government  in  the  rebellious  states 
called  for  his  calm  judgment  and  wise  forethought, 
just  at  this  time  to  lose  his  services  to  the  country  is  a 
calamity  which  will  be  deeply  felt.  In  this  fiendish 
act  the  worst  fears  of  many  friends  all  over  the 
country,  who  have  watched  his  movements  with 
intense  anxiety,  are  fully  realized.  We  have  fre 
quently  heard  the  fear  expressed  that  something  of 
this  kind  might  happen  to  him.  Now  the  blow  has 
fallen,  and  the  nation  is  called  to  mourn. 

We  give  the  latest  intelligence  received  down  to 
four  o'clock  this  morning.  Should  we  get  any  fur 
ther  information  by  six  o'clock,  we  will  give  it  to  our 
readers  in  a  second  edition.  —  Troy  Daily  Whig. 


4  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  EENSSELAER  COUNTY  COURT 
AND  COURT  OF  SESSIONS. 

At  the  opening  of  the  county  court  and  court  of 
sessions  at  the  Court  House  this  morning,  Judge 
Robertson  presiding,  Martin  I.  Townseud,  Esq.,  in  a 
few  brief  and  feeling  remarks,  called  the  attention  of 
the  court  to  the  fearful  intelligence,  that  during  the 
last  night,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United 
States,  had  been  murdered  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 
On  his  motion,  seconded  by  District  Attorney  Colby, 
it  was  ordered  that  in  consideration  of  the  profound 
respect  which  this  court  entertained  for  Abraham 
Lincoln,  the  late  President  of  the  United  States,  both 
as  an  officer  and  as  a  man,  this  court  do  now  adjourn. 
On  motion  of  Mr.  Edwin  Brownell,  the  clerk  of  the 
court,  it  was  ordered  that  the  Court  House  be  appro 
priately  draped  in  mourning.  His  Honor  Judge  Rob 
ertson  then  spoke  as  follows : 

The  news  of  the  morning,  which  has  been  just 
announced,  is  sad  indeed.  It  will  deeply  grieve  every 
loyal  heart  in  the  land.  It  is  painful  beyond  expres 
sion  to  contemplate  the  head  of  this  great  nation, 
stricken  down  in  an  instant  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 

For  four  long  years  Abraham  Lincoln  has  labored 
earnestly,  prayerfully,  as  few  men  can  labor,  to  carry 
this  nation  through  a  conflict  such  as  the  world  has 
never  before  seen.  For  four  long  years  he  has  en 
dured  the  bitterest  scorn  and  hate  of  the  enemies  of 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  5 

tils  country;  has  had  heaped  upon  him  all  the  obloquy 
the  heart  of  traitor  could  conceive  or  the  tongue  of 
traitor  utter ;  yet  has  he  kept  on  in  the  path  of  duty, 
turning  neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left,  never 
hesitating,  never  doubting,  never  uttering  a  word  of 
bitterness  or  complaint,  but  devoting  all  the  energies 
of  both  body  and  mind  to  the  salvation  of  his  country. 

The  whole  people  had  learned  to  love  him  and  to 
trust  him  —  to  have  faith  in  his  statesmanship  as  well 
as  in  his  purity. 

Thus  laboring  and  thus  beloved,  he  lived  to  see  the 
great  rebellion  crushed,  the  enemies  of  his  country 
vanquished.  In  the  hour  of  his  country's  triumph 
he  is  taken  from  us  by  the  hand  of  a  wretch  whose 
memory  will  be  execrated  by  the  virtuous  of  all 
nations  to  the  end  of  time.  Why  he  was  thus  taken 
we  cannot  divine.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that 
it  must  have  been  for  some  wise  purpose.  The  nation 
will  mourn,  yet  bow  in  submission. 

It  is  fitting  that  every  mark  of  respect  should  be 
paid  to  the  memory  of  the  departed. 

I  order  the  proceedings  of  the  court  at  this  time  to 
be  published,  and  that  the  clerk  enter  them  in  full  on 
the  minutes.  The  court  will  now  adjourn. 

PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  POLICE  COURT. 

At  the  opening  of  the  court,  Thomas  Neary,  Esq., 
the  police  justice,  announced  the  death  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin.  He 


6  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

stated  that  in  view  of  the  general  gloom  that  pervaded 
the  community  by  reason  of  this  sad  event,  it  was 
proper  there  should  be  a  suspension  of  business  on 
this  occasion.  He  then  adjourned  the  court  until  the 
Monday  next  following. 

ORDERS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  GUARD. 
By  general  order  No.  7,  previously  issued,  a  parade 
of  the  24th  regiment  New  York  State  National  Guard 
had  been  arranged  to  take  place  on  the  17th  instant. 
The  parade  was  postponed,  and  a  funeral  salute  was 
directed  by  the  following  orders  : 

HEAD  QRS.  24xn  REGT.,  N.  Y.  S.  N.  G.,  1 
Troy,  April  Ibili,  1865.      J 
GENERAL  ORDER  No.  8. 

General  order  No.  7,  dated  at  these  head-quarters, 
April  14th,  is  hereby  revoked.  By  order. 

I.  McCoNiHE  JR.,  Col.  Com'g. 
G.  G.  MOORE,  Adj't. 

HEAD  QRS.  24in  REGT.,  N.  Y.  S.  N.  G.,  1 
Troy,  April  l&li,  1865.       j 
SPECIAL  ORDER  No.  10. 

In  compliance  with  paragraph  299,  general  regula 
tions,  it  is  hereby  ordered  that  a  gun  shall  be  fired  at 
every  half  hour,  beginning  at  sunrise  and  ending  at 
sunset  to-morrow,  the  16th  day  of  April,  the  same 
being  the  day  following  the  reception  of  the  official 
intelligence  of  the  death  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  Captain  John  M.  Landon,  command 
ing  Company  A,  is  charged  with  the  execution  of  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  7 

above  order.  It  is  also  ordered  that  the  colors  shall 
be  displayed  at  half  mast  on  the  several  armories  of 
this  command  at  sunrise  to-morrow,  the  16th  day  of 
April,  and  remain  at  half  mast  until  sunset.  By  order. 

I.  McCoNiHE  JR.,  Col.  Com'g. 
G.  G.  MOORE,  Adj't. 

The  effect  produced  by  the  sad  event  was  such  as 
had  seldom  been  witnessed  in  this  city.  A  settled 
gloom  rested  on  every  face,  and  not  only  women  but 
men  —  strong  men  —  were  seen  to  weep  in  the  streets. 
At  an  early  hour,  moved  thereto  by  a  common  im 
pulse,  business  was  suspended.  Shops,  counting  rooms, 
offices,  warehouses  and  places  of  amusement  were 
closed,  a  few  shops  only  remaining  open,  and  those 
not  so  much  for  purposes  of  traffic,  as  affording 
centres  for  the  discussion  of  the  news  and  the  ex 
change  of  words  of  grief,  fear  or  revenge.  Crowds 
thronged  about  the  bulletin-boards  which  had  so 
lately  heralded  our  final  victories,  but  which  now 
promulgated  this  saddest  of  stories.  At  the  news 
paper  offices  incessant  inquiries  were  made  for  fuller 
intelligence,  and  this  intelligence  when  printed  was 
presented  by  the  daily  journals  in  columns  encased 
in  mourning  lines  and  borders.  Flags  which  had  for 
years  past  floated  in  token  of  victories  achieved,  and 
which  of  late  had  been  flung,  out  with  the  greatest 
manifestations  of  joy  and  triumph,  were  now  raised 
at  half  staff  and  festooned  with  crape.  Public  build- 


8  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

ings  were  draped  with  the  emblems  of  mourning, 
and  on  the  front  of  private  dwellings  from  the  poorest 
tenement  to  the  stateliest  residence,  was  to  be  seen 
some  token  of  the  general  sorrow. 

All  classes  of  citizens  gave  themselves  up  to  the 
indulgence  of  an  all-pervading  and  unaffected  grief. 
Men  who  until  now  had  been  silent  and  apparently 
unconcerned  spectators  of  the  events  of  the  last  four 
years,  or  who  had  openly  opposed  the  course  of  the 
President  in  our  national  troubles,  were  foremost  in 
lamenting  his  death  and  deploring  this  culmination  of 
our  national  woe.  No  chance  word  which  hinted, 
even  remotely,  approbation  of  the  foul  deed,  was 
allowed  to  be  uttered  with  impunity,  and  a  few 
instances  of  ill-timed  levity  or  partizan  bitterness  met 
with  rebukes  so  stern  and  decisive  that  a  repetition  of 
the  offence  was  not  attempted.  From  the  steeples  of 
the  city  at  intervals,  during  the  day,  the  bells  tolled 
out  their  mournful  music,  and  kept  time  in  solemn 
tone  to  the  sad  symphony  of  every  heart. 

About  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  His  Honor 
Uri  Gilbert,  the  mayor  of  the  city,  sent  private 
messages  to  the  clergy,  recommending  that  the 
various  churches  be  opened  for  a  service  of  prayer 
and  humiliation,  in  view  of  the  national  bereavement, 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  This  recommenda 
tion  also  appeared  in  %the  early  editions  of  the  after 
noon  journals.  In  compliance  W7ith  the  suggestion 
thus  made,  religious  services  were  held  in  many  of 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  9 

the  churches  at  the  hour  designated.  These  services 
were  necessarily  extemporaneous,  and  an  account  of  a 
few  only  has  been  preserved. 

SERVICE  AT  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH. 

REV.  HENRY  C.  POTTER,  D.I).,  RECTOR. 

No  service  having  then  been  appointed  by  the 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  and  the  occasion  being  so 
utterly  exceptional  and  unprecedented,  the  following 
order  of  service,  adapted  in  part  from  the  English 
prayer  book,  was  used  at  St.  John's  (Protestant  Epis 
copal)  Church. 

HYMN  80. 

Almighty  Lord,  before  thy  throne 

Thy  mourning  people  bend  : 
'Tis  on  thy  pardoning  grace  alone, 

Our  prostrate  hopes  depend. 

Dark  judgments,  from  thy  heavy  hand, 

Thy  dreadful  power  display; 
Yet  mercy  spares  our  guilty  land, 

And  still  we  live  to  pray. 

0  turn  us,  turn  us,  mighty  Lord, 

Convert  us  by  thy  grace  j 
Then  shall  our  hearts  obey  thy  word, 

And  see  again  thy  face. 

Then,  should  oppressing  foes  invade, 

We  will  not  sink  in  fear ; 
Secure  of  all-sufficient  aid, 

When  Grod,  our  God,  is  near. 

2 


10  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Minister. —  The  Lord  be  with  you. 
Answer. — And  with  thy  spirit. 
Minister. —  Let  us  pray. 

O  Most  mighty  God,  terrible 'in  thy  judgments  and 
wonderful  in  thy  doings  toward  the  children  of  men, 
who  in  thy  heavy  displeasure  hast  suffered  the  life  of 
our  Chief  Magistrate  to  be  taken  away  by  the  hands 
of  cruel  and  bloody  men ;  we  thy  sinful  creatures, 
here  assembled  before  thee,  do  humbly  confess  that 
they  were  the  crying  sins  of  this  nation  which  have 
brought  down  this  heavy  judgment  upon  us.  But,  O 
gracious  God,  when  thou  makest  inquisition  for 
blood,  lay  not  the  guilt  of  this  innocent  blood  (the 
shedding  whereof  nothing  but  the  blood  of  thy  Son 
can  expiate),  lay  it  not  to  our  charge,  we  beseech 
thee,  nor  let  it  be  required  of  us  or  our  posterity. 
Be  merciful,  0  Lord,  be  merciful  unto  thy  people 
whom  thou  hast  redeemed,  and  be  not  angry  with  us 
forever  ;  but  pardon  us  for  thy  mercies  sake,  through 
the  merits  of  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


0  Almighty  Lord  God,  who  by  thy  wisdom  not 
only  guidest  and  orderest  all  things  most  suitably  to 
thine  own  justice ;  but  also  performest  thy  pleasure 
in  such  a  manner,  that  we  cannot  but  acknowledge 
thee  to  be  righteous  in  all  thy  ways  and  holy  in  all 
thy  works :  We  thy  sinful  people  do  here  fall  down 
before  thee,  confessing  thy  judgments  were  right  in 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  H 

permitting  cruel  men,  sons  of  Belial,  to  imbrue  their 
hands  in  the  blood  of  thy  servant  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  we  having  drawn  down  the  same 
by  the  long  provocation  of  our  sin  and  weakness. 
For  which  we  do  therefore,  here  humble  ourselves 
before  thee;  beseeching  thee  to  deliver  this  nation 
from  blood-guiltiness,  and  to  turn  from  us  and  our 
posterity  all  those  judgments  which  we  by  our  folly 
have  worthily  deserved.  Grant  this  for  the  all-suffi 
cient  merits  of  thy  Son,  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 
Amen. 


Blessed  God,  just  and  powerful,  who  didst  permit 
thy  servant,"  our  honored  Chief  Magistrate,  to  be. 
given  up  to  the  violent  outrages  of  unscrupulous 
and  wicked  men,  to  be  mocked  and  scoffed  at,  and 
maligned,  and  at  the  last  murdered  by  them : 
though  we  cannot  reflect  upon  so  foul  an  act  but  with 
horror  and  astonishment ;  yet  do  we  most  gratefully 
commemorate  the  many  excellencies  which  shone 
forth  in  the  character  of  thy  servant,  whom  thou  wast 
pleased  to  endue  with  an  eminent  measure  of  exem 
plary  patience,  meekness  and  charity,  before  the  face 
of  all  his  enemies.  And,  albeit  thou  didst  suffer 
them  to  proceed  to  such  an  height  of  violence  as  to 
kill  him,  yet  hast  thou  in  great  mercy  preserved  his 
successor  in  office,  and  by  thy  wonderful  providence 
hast  continued  to  us  the  triumphs  of  the  cause  of 


12  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

these  United  States  of  America,  and  the  blessed 
tokens  of  speedy  and  lasting  peace.  For  these,  thy 
great  mercies,  we  glorify  thy  name,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  blessed  Saviour.  Amen. 


Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  whose  righteous 
ness  is  like  the  strong  mountains,  and  thy  judgments 
like  the  great  deep  ;  and  who  by  that  barbarous 
murder  committed  yesterday  upon  the  sacred  person 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  hast  taught  us 
that  neither  the  greatest  of  rulers  nor  the  best  of 
men  are  more  secure  from  violence  than  from  natural 
death,  teach  us  also  hereby,  so  to  number  our  days 
that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom.  And 
grant  that  neither  the  splendour  of  anything  that  is 
great,  nor  the  conceit  of  anything  that  is  good  in  us, 
may  withdraw  our  eyes  from  looking  upon  ourselves, 
as  sinful  dust  and  ashes;  but  that  according  to  the 
example  of  this  blessed  Martyr,  we  may  press  for 
ward  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  freedom  and  right 
eousness,  in  faith  and  patience,  humility  and  meek 
ness,  mortification  and  self-denial,  charity  and  con 
stant  perseverance  unto  the  end.  And  all  this  for 
thy  Son  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  to  whom,  with 
thee  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory, 
world  without  end.  Amen. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  13 

THE  LESSON. 
St.  Matthew,  xxi.  33-42. 

There  was  a  certain  householder,  which  planted  a 
vineyard,  and  hedged  it  round  about,  and  digged  a 
winepress  in  it,  "and  built  a  tower,  and  let  it  out  to 
husbandmen,  and  went  into  a  far  country  :  and  when 
the  time  of  the  fruit  drew  near,  he  sent  his  servants 
to  the  husbandmen,  that  they  might  receive  the  fruits 
of  it.  And  the  husbandmen  took  his  servants,  and 
beat  one,  and  killed  another,  and  stoned  another. 
Again,  he  sent  other  servants  more  than  the  first : 
and  they  did  unto  them  likewise.  But  last  of  all  he 
sent  unto  them  his  son,  saying,  They  will  reverence 
my  son.  But  when  the  husbandmen  saw  the  son, 
they  said  among  themselves,  This  is  the  heir ;  come, 
let  us  kill  him,  and  let  us  seize  on  his  inheritance. 
And  they  caught  him,  and  cast  him  out  of  the  vine 
yard,  and  slew  him.  When  the  lord  therefore  of  the 
vineyard  cometh,  what  will  he  do  unto  those  hus 
bandmen  ?  They  say  unto  him,  He  will  miserably 
destroy  those  wicked  men,  and  will  let  out  his  vine 
yard  unto  other  husbandmen,  which  shall  render  him 
the  fruits  in  their  seasons.  Jesus  saith  unto  them, 
Did  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures,  The  stone  which 
the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  become  the  head 
of  the  corner:  this  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is 
marvellous  in  our  eyes  ? 


14  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

HYMN  12. 

God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform; 

He  plants  his  footsteps  in  the  sea, 
And  rides  upon  the  storm. 

Deep  in  unfathomable  mines, 
With  never-failing  skill, 

He  treasures  up  his  bright  designs, 
And  works  his  gracious  will. 


Ye  fearful  saints,  fresh  courage  take 
The  clouds  ye  so  much,  dread 

Are  big  with  mercy,  and  shall  break 
In  blessings  on  your  head. 

Judge  not  the  Lord  by  feeble  sense, 
But  trust  him  for  his  grace  : 

Behind  a  frowning  providence 
He  hides  a  smilin     face. 


His  purposes  will  ripen  fast, 
Unfolding  every  hour  : 

The  bud  may  have  a  bitter  taste, 
But  sweet  will  be  the  flower. 

Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 
And  scan  his  work  in  vain  : 

God  is  his  own  interpreter, 
And  he  will  make  it  plain. 


PRAYERS. 

Prayer  for  persons  under  affliction  and  appropriate 
Collects. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  15 

SERVICE  AT  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

REV.  MARVIN  R.  VINCENT,  PASTOR. 

A  large  audience  assembled  to  participate  in  the 
service.  Prayers  were  offered  and  hymns  sung 
expressive  of  the  all-pervading  sorrow.  Short  ad 
dresses  were  made  by  the  pastor  and  by  members 
of  the  congregation.  The  principal  address  was  the 
following : 

ADDRESS. 
BY  MARTIN  I.   TOWNSEND,  ESQ. 

We  are  come  together  to-day,  to  consider  one 
of  the  saddest  events  that  ever  befell  a  nation.  Our 
Chief  Magistrate,  whom  we  loved  as  a  father  rather 
than  reverenced  as  a  ruler,  has  fallen  by  the  hand  of  an 
assassin,  and  the  nation  is  in  tears.  Yet  I  stand  not 
here  to  mourn  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  has  been 
fortunate  in  a  degree  rarely  attained  by  mortals.  He 
has  been  spared  to  fill  his  full  measure  of  usefulness, 
as  well  as  his  full  measure  of  fame.  He  has  seen  his 
imperilled  country  come  triumphant  out  of  one  of  the 
most  deadly  struggles  in  which  a  nation  was  ever  en 
gaged.  He  has  seen  the  embattled  hosts  which  were 
set  in  hostile  array  against  her,  melt  away  before  the 
serried  ranks  of  his  country's  armies,  and  their  vaunt 
ed  leaders  prisoners  of  war.  In  a  word,  he  had  seen 
that  cause  of  which  he  had  been  called  to  be  the  leader 
— the  cause  of  his  country,  the  cause  of  humanity  — 
crowned  by  the  blessing  of  God,  and  had  come  to 


16  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

know  that  his  toils  and  anxieties  during  four  long  and 
dreadful  years  of  darkness  and  of  conflict,  were  not  in 
vain,  but  had  preserved  the  liberties  of  his  country, 
had  secured  to  her  a  glorious  and  happy  future,  and 
had  enrolled  his  name  high  upon  the  record  of  the 
benefactors  of  mankind.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  more  for 
tunate  in  his  death  than  in  his  life.  He  died  in  an 
instant,  without  sorrow  or  pain.  He  died  in  the  ma 
turity  of  his  powers,  and  in  the  fullness  of  his  fame, 
before  a  single  mistake  had  fixed  the  slightest  blot  or 
blemish  upon  the  fair  shield  of  his  wisdom  and  patri 
otism.  He  died  at  a  moment  when  every  people  that 
loves  our  country  was  joining  in  the  grand  chorus  of 
praise,  rising  to  Heaven  throughout  our  own  broad 
land. 

It  is  for  our  country  that  I  weep.  It  is  for  humanity 
that  I  blush,  when  I  think  that  any  creature  who  has 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  American  liberty,  and  worn 
the  human  form,  could  be  found  base  enough  to 
imbrue  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  one  so  loving  and  so 
beloved,  in  the  blood  of  one  whose  heart  beat  so 
warmly  for  his  fellow  men.  But  this  dispensation  was 
doubtless  designed  to  teach  the  American  people  a 
great  and  solemn  lesson.  We  have  been  at  school  for 
the  last  four  years.  "We  have  been  studying  as  a 
lesson,  the  brutalizing  influence  of  slavery,  not  upon 
oppressed  black  men,  but  upon  the  white — the  gov 
erning  race.  We  have  seen  what  miseries  have  been 
heaped  upon  our  poor,  helpless,  imprisoned,  and  suf- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  m      17 

fering  sons  and  brothers  at  the  Libby  prison,  at  Salis 
bury,  and  that  living  Hades,  the  pens  of  Anderson- 
ville  ;  and  we  have  seen  now,  that  the  same  fiendish 
spirit,  born  of  slavery,  can  raise  its  dastard  and  assas 
sin  hand,  and  strike  down  our  best  beloved  and  most 
honored.  The  man  who  doubts  to-day  the  wicked 
and  debasing  influence  of  slavery  upon  the  white 
population  of  this  country,  has  been  blind  to  the 
events  of  the  last  four  years,  and  would  not  believe, 
though  "one  rose  from  the  dead."  Indeed,  the 
period  in  which  we  live  is  big  with  lessons  of  solemn 
instruction.  Although  we  have  all  admitted,  in  a 
general  way,  that  God  cares  for  the  lowly  and  the 
humble  as  well  as  for  men  of  high  degree,  we  have 
lived  to  a  great  extent  in  a  condition  of  practical 
doubt  upon  the  subject.  But  to-day  we  can  see  that 
not  a  tear  has  fallen  from  the  eye  of  a  bereaved  or 
suffering  slave  mother,  through  the  length  and  breadth 
of  all  our  land,  that  God  has  not  treasured  up  for 
judgment.  And  the  lesson  we  are  to  learn  from  it  is, 
that  if  any  nation  wishes  to  prosper,  even  for  the 
world  that  now  is,  that  nation  must  free  itself  from 
oppression,  though  practised  upon  the  least  of  God's 
little  ones. 

There  is  another  lesson  which  we  have  been  set  to 
learn  in  these  times.  It  is  the  lesson  of  God's 
sovereignty.  I  do  not  mean  a  sovereignty  which  ex 
cludes  all  agency  of  man.  But  I  mean  that  God 
overrules  the  counsels  and  actions  of  men  in  such  a 
3 


18     •  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

manner,  as  to  work  out  the  greatest  good  for  that  race 
for  whom  the  world  was  created  and  the  Saviour  died. 
What  poor,  short-sighted  mortal  was  able  to  foresee 
that  the  first  gun  fired  upon  Fort  Sumter  sounded 
the  knell  of  slavery  ?  Who  of  us,  011  -that  -gloomy 
day,  when  good  men  mourned  over  the  sad  defeat  of 
the  Union  forces  at  Bull  Run,  could  see  any  silver 
lining  upon  the  dark  cloud  that  enveloped  this  smit 
ten  land?  Yet  how  clearly  now  can  we  see  God's 
hand  in  that  dispensation.  How  clearly  now  can  we 
see  that  God  had  a  great  work  to  do  ;  that  he  meant 
that  the  shackles  of  millions  of  slaves  should  "be 
broken,  that  they  should  be  broken  by  the  strong 
hands  and  stalwart  arms  of  the  toiling  freemen  of  the 
North,  and  that  he  suifered  defeat  to  overtake  our 
armies,  that  the  loyal  of  the  whole  land  should  come 
forth  from  theirfarms  and  their  workshops,  and  devote 
themselves  soul  and  body  to  the  accomplishment  of 
his  sacred  work.  And  we  have  reason  to  be  thankful 
this  day,  that  we  have  been  spared  to  see  this  work 
accomplished.  Our  armies  are  everywhere  triumph 
ant  ;  our  nation  is  everywhere  honored  ;  our  land 
is  purged  of  the  dreadful  plague-spot  of  slavery  ;  and 
although  God  has  smitten  us  in  the  person  of  our  be 
loved  President,  we  feel,  as  we  never  felt  before,  that 
he  loves  our  land  and  our  people,  and  means  his 
chastisements  only  for  our  good.  Let  it  be  ours  to 
profit  by  the  solemn  lessons  which  he  is  teaching  us 
in  these  days. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  19 

OTHER  SERVICES. 

The  service  in  the  Second  Street  Presbyterian 
Church,  consisted  of  appropriate  music,  prayer  and 
an  address  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Duncan  Kennedy, 
D.D.  The  scene  was  one  of  deep  interest,  and 
the  heavy  and  beautiful  drapery  of  the  building, 
served,  if  possible,  to  increase  the  solemnity.  The 
address  was,  for  the  most  part,  an  expression  of  deep 
sympathy  in  the  universal  sorrow.  The  speaker 
directed  attention  to  the  mystery  that  enshrouded  the 
dread  event,  and  enforced  the  duty  of  Christian  sub 
mission  to  the  inscrutable  dispensation,  and  of  unfail 
ing  trust  in  the  superintending  providence  of  Grod. 

At  St.  Mary's  (Roman  Catholic)  church,  the  service, 
under  the  direction  of  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Peter 
Havermans,  was  solemn  and  impressive.  The  psalm 
Miserere  was  intoned  from  the  altar  and  was  taken  up 
by  the  choir.  The  music  was  grand  and  effective. 
Suitable  prayers  were  also  read  at  the  altar,  and  such 
remarks  were  made  by  the  pastor  as  the  occasion 
called  for. 

Services  of  a  similar  character  were  held  in  the 
North  Baptist  church,  Rev.  C.  P.  Sheldon,  D.D., 
pastor ;  in  the  South  Troy  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
Rev.  D.  T.  Elliott,  pastor  ;  in  the  Second  Presbyterian 
church,  Rev.  D.  S.  Gregory,  D.D.,  pastor,  and  in 
other  churches  in  the  city,  of  which  no  account  is 
preserved. 


20  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

BY  JOHN   M.    FRANCIS. 

"We  have  no  heart  to  dwell  upon  the  details  of  the 
awful  calamity.  The  wall  of  a  great  people  ascends 
to  heaven  ;  the  vengeance  of  a  just  God,  swift  as 
lightning-darts  and  scathing  as  thunder-holts,  will  be 
visited  upon  the  guilty,  their  murderous  associates 
and  fiendish  abettors. 

Sad,  sad  beyond  the  power  of  language  to  express,  is 
the  loss  of  our  true-hearted,  our  pure-minded,  our  trust 
ed  and  loving  President.  He  was  gentle  as  a  woman, 
yet  firm  as  a  Jackson.  He  loved  his  country  with  the 
pure  devotion  of  a  child  for  its  mother.  But  he  had 
the  strength  of  giant  manhood  and  the  sagacity,  of 
astute  statesmanship  to  defend  the  Union  he  had  sworn 
to  support.  He  was  merciful ;  he  was  kind.  £[ever 
was  heart  more  susceptible  to  pity  than  Abraham 
Lincoln's.  He  was  ready  to  forgive  the  worst  where 
pardon  promised  reformation,  and  where  there  was 
reasonable  hope  that  the  interests  of  the  country  would 
not  be  jeopardized  by  such  forgiveness.  Even  to  the 
hour  he  was  killed  by  the  assassin's  fire,  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  laboring  with  all  the  zeal  of  his  nature, 
with  all  the  abilities  of  a  mind  that  grasped  as  if  by 
intuition  the  salient  points  of  great  questions,  to  corn- 
pose  our  national  difficulties,  to  pacify  the  country,  to 
reestablish  Peace  upon  the  basis  of  everlasting  Jus 
tice, —  at  the  same  time  giving  amnesty  and  offering 
blessings  to  those  who  had  sought  to  destroy  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  21 

Union,  to  strike  down  civilization,  and  to  ruin  a  just 
and  loyal  people. 

"  His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 
So  mix'd  in  him,  that  nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  This  ivas  a  man  !  " 

We  cannot  analyze  the  character  of  our  deceased 
President  here  and  now.  In  his  hands  the  future  of 
our  country  was  secure.  The  people  trusted  him  and 
looked  up  to  him  as  children  to  a  kind,  loving,  watch 
ful  and  nohle  hearted  parent.  The  blow  that  struck 
him  down  has  fired  the  souls  of  thousands  who 
before  were  ready  to  forgive  the  rebel  leaders,  and 
offer  to  them  the  terms  of  conciliation  and  clemency. 
Henceforth,  those  words  are  blotted  from  the  lexicon 
of  the  American  people,  and  nothing  short  of  the 
condign  punishment  of  the  guilty  wretches  who 
plunged  this  nation  in  fratricidal  war,  and  who  have 
prosecuted  their  murderous  enterprise  with  the 
ferocity  of  barbarians,  will  satisfy  the  demands  of 
the  republic. 

The  nation  mourns;  the  people  are  bowed  down 
with  sorrow, —  but  every  loyal  heart,  trustful  even  in 
its  awful  affliction,  feels  that  the  republic  shall  live. 

Abraham  Lincoln  is  dead,  but  his  works  shall  live 
after  him  and  during  all  coming  time.  And  his 
memory  shall  be  enshrined  with  Washington's  — 
"  First  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

It  is  a  solemn  hour.  We  feel  that  the  republic  has 
lost  its  truest  friend,  its  great  protector,  its  trusted 


22  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

saviour.  But  thank  God,  Abraham  Lincoln  lived  to 
save  his  country.  Thank  God,  he  saw  the  finishing 
blows  dealt  to  the  gigantic  rebellion.  His  policy  was 
vindicated;  the  cause  nearest  his  heart  had  tri 
umphed.  Men  die,  but  principles  never  perish. — 
Troy  Daily  Times. 

OUR  DUTY  ON  THIS  DAY. 

BY   B.    H.    HALL. 

In  contemplating  the  horrible  crime  that  has  done 
to  death  the  head  of  this  nation,  in  the  most  cowardly 
manner  known  to  human  demonism,  we  should  still 
think  like  men,  and  not  allow  our  better  judgment 
to  be  paralyzed  by  devices  of  vengeance.  We  can 
not  believe  that  the  act  of  the  assassin  of  President 
Lincoln  can  awaken  much  sympathy  in  the  hearts  of 
any  except  the  most  virulent  and  abandoned  traitors, 
and  we  hazard  the  conjecture  that  when  the  circum 
stances  of  the  act  become  fully  known,  but  very  few 
will  be  found  implicated  in  it.  Let  us  not,  then,  talk 
about  visiting  vengeance  on  a  whole  people,  many  of 
whom  are  now  subdued,  for  this  crime  of  a  few. 

God  is  our  witness,  that  none  feel  more  deeply  than 
we,  the  terrible  significance  of  this  dastardly  crime. 
On  the  day  when  a  large  portion  of  Christendom  was 
commemorating  in  litanies  and  tears  the  atrocious 
death  of  the  Saviour  of  men,  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
type  of  human  rights  and  progress,  fell  by  the  hands 
of  a  man  imjmed  with  the  same  spirit  that  crucified 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  23 

that  Saviour.  On  the  day  in  which  the  flag  of  our 
country  was  again  raised  over  the  walls  of  a  nation's 
redeemed  fortress,  the  guiding  spirit  that  had  brought 
about  that  redemption  passed  out  of  its  murdered 
body.  Indiscriminate  vengeance  is  neither  lawful, 
Christian  nor  human.  The  mysteries  of  Providence 
are  beyond  our  ken,  but  for  all  this  our  hearts  should 
be  strong,  not  troubled;  our  faith  uplifting,  not 
drooping.  Let  the  ministers  of  God,  as  they  this  day 
lead  their  people  in  acts  of  solemn  devotion,  remind 
them  that  vengeance  belongs  to  Him  and  the  laws  of 
the  country.  What  may  be  in  store  for  this  dis 
tracted  and  bleeding  land  is  locked  in  the  bosom 
of  Omniscience.  Of  one  thing,  however,  we  are 
assured,  and  that  is,  that  he  who  has  led  us  on  in 
triumph  through  four  years  of  struggle,  will  not  now 
desert  us.  As  for  the  southern  people,  the  hand  that 
held  out  to  them  the  chalice  of  tenderest  mercy  is 
extended  in  death,  and  they  as  well  as  we  have  lost 
the  best  earthly  friend.  Let  us  pause,  ere  we  draw  rash 
conclusions,  and  then  perhaps  sounds  from  above 
may  reach  us,  and  a  vision  be  granted  of  things 
beyond  the  terrible  present. 

"  At  last  I  heard  a  voice  upon  the  slope 
Cry  to  the  summit :    Is  there  any  hope  ? 
To  which  an  answer  pealed  from  that  high  land, 
But  in  a  tongue  no  man  could  understand ; 
And  on  the  glimmering  limit,  far  withdrawn, 
God  made  Himself  an  awful  rose  of  dawn/' 

Troy  Daily  Times. 


24  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

THE  NATIONAL  CALAMITY  AND  HUMILIATION. 

BY   F.    B.    HUBBELL. 

All  public  interest  to-day  mournfully  centres  upon 
the  tragic  death  of  the  President  of  thellnited  States  hy 
the  hands  of  an  assassin!  What  words  to  write! 
What  a  sentence  to  burst  upon  the  public  ear,  so 
recently  filled  with  rejoicings  of  the  populace,  whose 
heart  beat  quicker  because  the  nation  was  emerging 
from  scenes  of  blood  and  carnage  to  enjoy  once  more 
the  blessings  of  an  honored  and  bravely  v\ron  peace, 
and  because  the  flag  of  the  union  was  once  more  to 
float  over  an  undivided  country  ! 

President  Lincoln  expired  at  twenty  minutes  past 
seven  o'clock  this  morning,  April  15,  1865.  He  died 
in  the  service  of  a  grateful  country,  while  yet  his 
brow  was  freshly  crowned  with  the  highest  honors 
the  republic  could  bestow.  His  name  is  given 
immortality,  and  to-day  is  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of 
millions  who  in  his  life  dissented  from  his  policy  and 
denied  him  their  suffrages. 

Under  such  a  calamity,  words  are  feeble,  and  seem 
idle.  The  suddenness  of  the  shock  well  nigh  palsies 
the  powers  of  speech  and  thought.  Men,  friends, 
pass  each  other  on  the  street,  without  the  usual  recog 
nition,  because  the  mind  is  too  busy  with  itself,  and 
silence  is  the  natural  language  of  sorrow. 

Until  this  deplorable  event,  for  weeks  the  prospects 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  25 

• 
of  the     country   had    been    gradually    brightening. 

Foremost  in  the  heaven-blessed  work  of  peace  and 
conciliation,  had  been  President  Lincoln.  Already 
had  the  fruits  of  his  policy,  during  his  brief  visit  to  . 
Richmond,  began  to  reveal  themselves  in  the  import 
ant  appeal  made  to  the  Virginia  legislature  by  the 
leading  men  of  that  state.  Disregarding  all  appeals 
to  return  to  Washington,  heeding  not  for  a  moment 
suggestions  of  personal  danger,  he  remained  in  the 
late  rebel  capital,  simply  because  he  believed  his 
presence  and  influence  there  could  aid  an  honorable 
and  speedy  close  of  the  war :  and  every  day's  devel 
opments  plainly  demonstrated  that  he  judged  rightly. 
Upon  no  class  in  the  country  does  this  calamity  fall 
with  more  crushing  weight  than  upon  the  union  men 
of  the  south,  who  had  justly  and  naturally  come  to 
look  to  President  Lincoln  as  the  pilot  who  was  to 
bring  the  nation  safely  through  all  dangers. 

This  hope  is  now  gone,  and  clouds  loom  up  in  the 
future.  "^N"ew  masters,  new  laws."  The  President 
had  adopted  a  policy  which  was  becoming  well  under 
stood,  and  which  was  rapidly  receiving  the  unanimous 
favor  of  the  best  minds  of  men  of  all  parties  north 
and  south.  The  hopes  built  upon  this  happily  chang 
ing  feature  in  our  affairs  disappears.  What  was 
reasonable  certainty  now  becomes  the  greatest  uncer 
tainty.  The  rolling,  boisterous  sea  is  before  us,  and 
the  ship  is  in  the  hands  of  untried  mariners. 

From   the   time   it   was   known   Mr.  Lincoln   was 
4 


26  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

elected  for  the  second  term,  .party  opposition  to  him, 
or  his  administration,  was  modified  to  a  degree  never 
known  on  the  accession  of  a  president  to  office.  The 
.  terrible  crisis  the  country  had  passed  through  had 
softened  asperities,  and  men  began  to  consider  their 
duties  in  the  higher  relations  to  country  —  to  saving 
the  republic  from  utter  ruin.  Day  by  day  this  modi 
fied  sentiment  was  growing  stronger.  While  some  of 
the  President's  early  and  hitherto  most  steadfast 
friends  felt  impelled  to  differ  with  his  views  and  with 
hold  approval  of  some  of  his  acts,  the  party  which 
had  opposed  the  President  gave  unerring  signs  of  a 
disposition  cordially  to  sustain  him. 

Humanly  speaking,  we  believe  the  lives  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  and  William  H.   Seward  were  of  more 
value  to  this   country,  in  the   crisis  we  are  passing 
through,  than  the  lives  of  any  two  men  in  the  world. 
Their  experience    during  the  past  four  years,    their 
familiarity  with  all  questions  —  domestic  and  foreign 
—  the  anxious  desire  of  both  to  see  the  great  internal 
controversy  closed,  their  ability  to  rise  above  small 
to  grasp  and  make  secure  great  interests,  and  the  fact 
that  both  had  the  confidence  of  the  country,  and  that 
to  both  was  assigned  the  helm  for  four  years  to  come, 
made  them  the  nation's  hope,  as  far  as  men  confide  in 
men.     But  God  is  over  all.     The  devisings  of  mortals 
are  nothing.     For  some  inscrutably  wise  purpose,  the 
Almighty  afflicts  this  people. —  Troy  Daily  Press. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  27 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

BY    JAMES    S.    THORN, 

There  are  little  knots  on  the  corners  to-day, 

And  with  bated  breath  they  utter 
Not  alone  a  dirge  o'er  th'  inanimate  clay, 

But  avenging  whispers  mutter. 

There  are  aching  hearts  in  the  households  to-night ; 

There  are  eyes  that  are  red  with  weeping  • 
And  tender  hearts,  oh  not  bursting  quite, 

In  the  gall  of  despair  are  steeping. 

They  are  sobbing  to  day  on  the  old  camp-ground, 

Arid  spirits  undaunted  by  foeman, 
That  trembled  not  when  the  battery  frowned, 

Are  blanched  as  the  cheek  of  woman. 

Comes  a  nation's  wail  o'er  her  prostrate  son, 
For  her  joy  has  been  changed  to  sorrow  : 

She  fears  there's-  the  dusk  of  doubt  begun, 
And  alas !  who  can  tell  the  morrow  ? 

So  pure  and  so  wise,  aye,  so  grandly  good, 

Sic  semper  tyrannis  belies  him  : 
Greatest  of  living  men  he  stood ; 

Dying,  the  world  shall  prize  him. 

Though  the  head  lies  low,  yet  the  body  lives  : 
There  are  heart-strings  that  death  cannot  sever : 

HE  taketh  away,  but  yet  HE  gives, 
And  the  Union  shall  last  forever. 

We  are  tasting  to-day  of  the  bitter  cup  : 

Oh  lesson,  we  heed  thy  warning. 
We  know  but  ONE  who  can  lift  us  up  : 

'  Tis  night,  it  will  yet  be  morning. 


8  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL 

The  dead  of  to-day  will  grow  divine 
Like  the  martyrs  of  ancient  story, 
And  with  Washington's,  Lincoln's  name  shall  shine 
On  the  scroll  of  our  country's  glory. 

Troy  Daily  Times. 
Saturday,  April  15th,  1865. 


Later  in  the  day  appeared  the  proclamation  of 
Reuben  E.  Fenton,  governor  of  the  state,  and  the 
recommendation  of  Horatio  Potter,  bishop  of  the 
diocese  of  New  York.  They  are  here  inserted 
because  they  form  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  occa 
sion,  and  served  to  give  direction  to  some  of  the 
religious  services  of  the  subsequent  days. 

PROCLAMATION  BY  THE  GOVERNOR. 

The  fearful  tragedy  at  Washington  has  converted 
an  occasion  of  rejoicing  over  national  victory  into  one 
of  national  mourning.  It  is  fitting,  therefore,  that 
the  20th  of  April,  heretofore  set  apart  as  a  day  of 
thanksgiving,  should  now  be  dedicated  to  services 
appropriate  to  a  season  of  national  bereavement. 

Bowing  reverently  to  the  providence  of  God,  let 
us  assemble  in  our  places  of  worship  on  that  day,  to 
acknowledge  our  dependence  on  him  who  has 
brought  sudden  darkness  on  the  land  in  the  very 
hour  of  its  restoration  to  union,  peace  and  liberty. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  affixed  the  privy  seal  of  the  state,  at  the  city  of 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  29 

Albany,  this  fifteenth  day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-five. 
By  the  Governor:  R.  E.  FENTON. 

GEO.  8.  HASTINGS,  Private  Secretary. 

RECOMMENDATION  OF  BISHOP  POTTER. 


YORK,  April  15th,  1865. 
To  the  Clergy  and  Laity  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  — 
!}EAR  BROTHERS  :  With  agony  which  I  have  no  lan 
guage  to  express,  I  appeal  to   you  to  offer  up  your 
prayers  for  this  bereaved  and  mourning  nation.     The 
beloved  and  revered   Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United 
States  is  no  more.     The  malignant  passions  which 
have  just  proved  impotent  to  destroy  the  government, 
have  successfully  done  the  assassin's  work  upon  the 
life  of  its  honored  head.     A  glorious  career  of  service 
and  devotion  is  crowned  with  a  martyr's  death.     I 
request  most  respectfully  that  to-morrow,  and  for  the 
next  two  weeks,  the  prayer  for  a  person  under  afflic 
tion    be    used    for    the    country   with    these   slight 
changes:    Instead  of  "the   sorrows  of  thy  servant," 
read  "  the  sorrows  of  thy  servants,   the  people  of  this 
nation;"    and    instead  of    "him"   and  "  his,"    read 
"us"  and  "ours."     I  also  appoint  the  prayer  in  time 
of  war  and  tumults  to  be  read.     I  would  also  recom 
mend  that  after  the  solemnities  of  the  Easter  Sunday 
shall  have  been  concluded,  the  churches  of  the  diocese 
be  clothed  in  mourning.     Praying  God  to  give  you 
his  blessing,  and  to  sanctify  this  sore  bereavement  to 


30  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

our  beloved  country,  I  remain  your  affectionate  bro 
ther  in  Christ. 

HORATIO  POTTER,  Bishop  of  New  York. 

CITIZENS'  MEETING. 

At  a  large  meeting  of  citizens,  held  at  St.  Nicholas 
Hall,  on  Saturday  evening,  April  15th,  to  give  ex 
pression  to  public  feeling  on  the  recent  murder  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States, 
Charles  Eddy  presided,  and  Charles  E.  Davenport 
was  Secretary.  On  motion,  a  committee  of  five  — 
William  Hagan,  J.  M.  Hawley,  K  Davenport,  Alder 
man  Cox  and  W.  1ST.  Barringer — were  appointed  to 
draft  and  report  resolutions.  The  meeting  was 
addressed  by  S.  E.  Clexton,  D.  A.  Wells,  P.  II. 
Baerman,  W.  N.  Barringer  and  Rev.  Mr.  R.  R.  Mere 
dith.  The  committee  reported  the  following  resolu 
tions,  which  were  adopted  : 

'Whereas^  We  have  heard  with  profound  sorrow  in 
this  hour  of  our  country's  peril,  of  the  death  of  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  nation,  Abraham  Lincoln,  by 
the  hand  of  an  assassin,  therefore 

Resolved,  That,  although  we  feel  deeply  on  this 
subject,  yet,  believing  in  an  overruling  Providence, 
we  strive  calmly  to  submit,  with  the  thought  that  our 
lamented  President  may  have  finished  the  work  given 
him  to  do,  and  that  God  will  raise  up  a  man  to  com 
plete  the  work  so  nearly  accomplished  of  reuniting 
our  country  in  bonds  of  perpetual  union. 

Resolved,  That  we  hope  all  loyal  citizens  will  pay  a 
proper  respect  to  the  day  set  apart  by  the  Governor 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  31 

of  this  State  for  religious  services  appropriate  to  this 
sad  national  calamity. 

Resolved,  That  we  have  full  confidence  in  the  patri 
otism  and  will  of  Andrew  Johnson  to  finish  the  work 
of  restoration  so  ably  commenced  by  the  late  Presi 
dent. 

Resolved,  That  this  hall  be  draped  in  mourning  for 
the  residue  of  the  year  in  testimony  of  respect  for  the 
memory  of  the  able  and  patriotic  statesman,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  late  President  of  the  United  States. 

CHARLES  EDDY,  Chairman. 

CHARLES  E.  DAVENPORT,  Secretary. 


SUNDAY,  APEIL  16TH,  1865. 

"HUNG  BE  THE  HEAVENS  WITH  BLACK." 

BY  C.   L.   MAC  ARTHUR. 

We  stand  appalled  before  the  awful  tragedy  which 
has  been  precipitated  upon  the  American  people. 
Words  are  tame  to  express  the  agonies  of  the  na 
tional  heart.  The  tongue  is  dumb,  and  paralyzed  in 
the  effort  to  "speak  the  great  feelings  of  the  hour. 
The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  the  calm  mo 
ment  of  repose,  surrounded  by  his  family  and  trusted 
friends,  in  the  midst  of  an  assemblage  of  thousands 
where  were  gathered  the  talent  and  beauty  of  the 
Federal  Capital,  is  suddenly  shot  by  an  assassin  !  Can 
any  thing  in  the  possible  range  of  human  events  be 
more  agonizing,  tragic  and  appalling  ?  In  atrocity, 
yes.  The  great  and  gifted  Secretary  of  State,  lying 
on  his  sick  bed,  wan  and  emaciated,  with  a  broken 


32  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

arm  and  a  fractured  jaw,  with  the  balance  vibrating 
doubtfully  between  life  and  death,  is  approached  in 
the  dead  hour  of  night  by  an  assassin,  and  the 
dagger  is  mercilessly  thrust  at  the  throat  and  the  heart 
of  the  victim  !  That  such  fiendish  acts  could  be  per 
petrated  by  any  one  bearing  "  the  human  form  divine," 
make  us  shudder  to  belong  to  the  same  race.  The 
heart  sickens  at  the  recital  of  these  facts,  and  the  pen 
unwillingly  records  them.  We  present  elsewhere  the 
fullest  details  of  this  awful  tragedy  which  have  reached 
us.  We  refrain  from  further  comment. —  Troy  News. 

EXTRACT  FROM  A  SERMON  PREACHED  AT  ST.  JOHN'S 
(EPISCOPAL)  CHURCH  ON  THE  MORNING  OF  EASTER 
SUNDAY. 

BY    REV.    HENRY    C.    POTTER,    D.D. 

:*********  jj.;s  m  yjew?  supremely,  of 
our  bereavements,  that  the  great  fact  of  which  this 
Easter  Morning  is  at  once  the  seal  and  proclamation 
—  the  fact  I  mean  of  the  resurrection  —  is  so  precious. 
Death  loses,  indeed,  but  little  of  its  mystery,  but  it  is 
robbed  forever  of  its  terror.  Our  friends  are  borne 
away  out  of  our  sight  but  we  know  that  they  have  not 
perished.  All  that  was  most  central  to  their  charac 
ter  and  personality  shall,  one  day,  live  again.  The 
mortal  eyes  with  which  so  lovingly  they  looked  upon 
us  may,  verily,  have  been  closed,  but  the  radiant  ten 
derness  that  shone  in  them,  has,  believe  me,  an  en 
during  existence.  The  lips  that  smiled  encourage- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  83 

merit  upon  our  weariness,  and  uttered  their  word  of 
reassurance  in  our  ear  may,  truly,  have  been  sealed 
in  death  forever ;  but  both  smile  and  speech,  through 
Christ,  shall  live  again,  in  an  existence  as  real,  as 
tender,  and  ineffably  more  glorious  than  before.  The 
hand  that  once  held  ours  and  pledged  its  constant 
friendship  in  its  loving  grasp,  may  long  ago  have  re 
laxed  its  steadfast  hold  and  chilled  and  stiffened  in 
the  grave,  but  the  constancy  and  fidelity  which  it 
silently  uttered,  have  no  more  perished  than  the 
being  and  character  of  him,  of  whom  they  were  the 
expression.  I  know  not  what  that  body  shall  be,  but 
I  do  know  that  God  will  give  to  every  ransomed  soul 
a  body,  "  as  it  hath  pleased  Him."  Death  is  not 
longer  a  master  but  a  servant — no  longer  a  victor 
over  human  hopes,  but  a  gleaner  of  human  treasures 
into  the  everlasting  garner  of  the  Lord !  In  that 
store-hous'e  all  the  sweetness  and  beauty  and  nobility 
of  the  past,  as  of  the  present  and  the  future,  shall  be 
gathered.  The  virtue  of  martyrs  ;  the  sweet  inno 
cence  of  childhood  ;  the  glories  of  patriotism,  uplift 
ing  itself  above  the  level  of  our  common  life,  like 
yonder  mountains  ;  the  fragrance  of  self-sacrifice  and 
faith  and  love  —  all  these  shall  somehow  be  embodied 
in  that  resurrection  unto  life,  which  the  Master's  vic 
tory  on  this  Easter  Morning  purchased  for  his  people 
forever  ! 

And  this,  as  it  is  our  supreme  and  only  consolation 
in  all  our  private  sorrows,  so  it  must  be  in  view  of 


34  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

that .  tragedy  of  horror,  before  which,  this  morning, 
a  nation  stands  aghast,  All !  how  darkened  is  our 
Easter-feast  to-day.  The  sun  rises,  as  of  old,  to 
usher  in  the  morning  when  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory 
rent  assunder  the  bars  of  the  grave  and  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light;  but  the  shadow  of  an  over 
whelming  grief  is  upon  us,  and  we  cannot  raise  our 
selves  to  the  gladness  of  the  occasion.  The  Easter 
fact  is  here.  God  forbid,  that  now,  of  all  times,  we 
should  for  a  moment  forget  it !  But  the  trappings  of 
our  common  woe  mingle  with  our*  Easter  blossoms, 
and  our  songs  are  mixed  with  tears.  "  The  malig 
nant  passions  which  have  just  proved  impotent  to 
destroy  the  government,  have  successfully  done  the 
assassin's  work  upon  the  life  of  its  honored  head." 
A  glorious  career  of  service  and  devotion,  rendered, 
much  of  it,  amid  the  scorn  and  obloquy  of  foreign  and 
domestic  traitors ;  a  career  often  impeded  by  the 
timid  and  time-serving  unfaithfulness  of  professed 
friends,  is  crowned  with  a  martyr's  death.  The  bar 
barism  of  slavery,  incarnated,  first,  in  the  brutal  bully 
of  the  senate  chamber,  then  in  a  monstrous  and  fiend 
ish  rebellion,  with  all  its  violation  of  the  most  sacred 
oaths,  and  its  ingenious  and  demoniacal  cruelty  to 
prisoners,  and  now  most  fitly  impersonated  in  the  garb 
and  weapon  of  the  assassin,  has  struck  its  last  blow  at 
our  beloved  and  revered  chief  magistrate.  But,  ah ! 
thank  God,  how  impotent  a  blow  !  How  little  of  our 
great  ruler  has  perished  !  A  devout  though  self-dis- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  35 

trustful  follower  of  bis  Master;  spending  the  earliest 
moments  of  the  day  amid  all  the  pressure  of  his  high 
responsibility,  (as  those  who  then  sought  him  learned), 
in  communion  with  the  source  of  all  wisdom  ;  hearing 
his  gentle  testimony,  as  I  heard  not  long  ago,  from 
one  to  whom  he  said  it,  that  he  loved  and  leaned  on 
Him  who  is  the  strength  and  righteousness  of  them 

O  O 

that  trust  him  ; .  brought  to  the  Master,  as  have  been 
so  many,  by  that  which  took  from  him  the  darling  of 
his  eyes— how  surely  may  we  believe  that  the  best 
and  highest  part  of  him  is  forever  immortal,  and,  that 
just  as  his  memory  will  live  among  us,  and  grow 
brighter  and  more  radiant  as  the  ages  roll  along,  so  is 
he  himself  even  now,  alive  from  the  dead,  ere  long  to 
take  on  that  spiritual  body  which  God  giveth  to  them 
that  have  pleased  him  ! 

And,  therefore,  let  not  the  notes  of  our  mourning 
stifle  those  of  our  gratitude  and  hope  —  gratitude  and 
hope  for  him  whom  we  have  lost,  and  praise  and  thanks 
giving  to  the  Master,  who,  in  this,  as  in  all  our  sor 
rows,  gives  us,  on  this  Easter  morning,  the  clear  and 
unclouded  assurance  of  the  life  which  is  to  come  ! 
For  that  life,  feeling  more  keenly  than  ever,  this 
morning,  how  fleeting  are  all  the  goodly  shows  of  this, 
let  us  earnestly  look  and  long,  until,  with  us,  too,  as 
with  patriots  and  saints  and  martyrs  who  have  gone 
before  us,  this  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality  and 
death,  be  swallowed  up  in  victory  ! 


36  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

SKETCH  OF  A  SERMON  PREACHED  IN  THE  STATE  STREET 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  ON  SUNDAY  MORNING. 


BY  REV.   S.  U.   BROWN. 


Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  forever  ;  for  in  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  everlasting 
strength. — ISAIAH,  xxvi,  4. 

The  nation  is  in  mourning'.  Its  head  has  been 
stricken  and  now  lies  low  in  death,  and  the  chief  of 
its  councillors  stands  ready  to  depart.  No  language 
can  describe  the  shock,  as  yestermorn  the  disastrous 
tidings  reached  us.  For  the  moment,  it  seemed  as  if 
the  very  foundations  had  given  way,  and  even  hope 
was  lost. 

The  President  of  our  republic  is  dead,  the  victim 
of  a  base  assassin's  power.  Seldom,  in  the  history  of 
modern  times,  has  the  head  of  a  great  nation  been 
assassinated.  In  Rome,  in  the  days  of  her  corruption 
and  decline,  assassination  of  rulers  was  common;  but 
in  later  years  it  has  seldom  occurred.  Our  nation  is 
now  among  those  whose  chief  has  fallen  by  the  blow 
of  the  murderer. 

"We  have  but  partially  recovered  from  the  shock. 
It  is  not  yet  time  fully  to  gather  up  the  lessons  of  the 
hour,  much  less  to  eulogize  the  departed.  Yet  it 
seems  fitting,  that  allusion  should  be  made  to  this 
sad  event.  It  is  the  voice  of  God,  and  the  pulpit 
should  to-day,  make  an  application  to  the  hearts  of 
the  people. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  37 

I  have  had  no  time  for  preparation.  Busily  en 
gaged  during  the  day,  I  had  but  a  few  moments  late 
at  night,  to  throw  my  thoughts  into  any  systematic 
•form,  and  can  give  you  only  those  thoughts  which, 
amid  "busy  cares,  have  been  passing  through  my  mind. 
It  seems  mysterious  that  God  should  have  permit 
ted  this  dire  tragedy.  Other  diabolical  plans  have 
been  formed,  but  they  have  been  signally  foiled  by  an 
unseen  hand.  God  could  have  prevented  this  also, 
but  he  has  allowed  it  to  be  successful,  why?  It 
reveals  the  vanity  of  all  confidence  in  man,  the  insta 
bility  of  all  of  earth. 

During  the  last  four  years,  there  have  been  seasons 
of  doubt  and  perplexity.  We  had  passed  through 
these  and  were  now  confident — confident  in  him. 
"When,  a  few  months  since,  he  was  reflected,  men 
felt  that  all  would  be  well,  that  he  would  lead  the 
nation  to  victory  and  peace.  He  was  inaugurated 
with  greater  solemnity  than  any  who  preceded  him. 
Scarcely  a  month  passes  and  the  hope  of  the  nation 
is  dead. 

This  calamity  comes  amid  victory.  The  shouts  of 
a  jubilant  people  have  died  away  in  a  piercing  wail. 
The  past  few  months  have  been  months  of  continued 
triumph.  Never  did  so  many  events  happen  in  the 
history  of  any  people  in  a  single  month,  as  have  in 
ours,  during  the  last  four  weeks,  culminating  in  the 
fall  of  the  rebel  capital,  the  surrender  of  their  proud 
est  chief  and  grandest  army. 


38  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

How  quickly  has  this  change  come  !  At  the  opening 
of  the  week  the  national  heart  was  buoyant.  Bells 
were  ringing,  flags  flying,  drums  beating,  and  people 
shouting,  from  Maine  to  the  Rocky  mountains.  Yet 
ere  the  week  closed,  the  nation  is  bowed  with  this 
great  sorrow. 

And  it  is  what  we  least  expected.  Defeat  to  our 
arms  we  thought  possible,  for  it  is  the  fortune  of  war, 
but  none  anticipated  or  even  thought  of  such  an  event 
as  this. 

It  has  occurred  not  only  in  the  midst  of  general 
rejoicings,  but  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  when  the 
flag  of  our  country  was  again  thrown  to  the  breeze, 
from  the  ruins  of  Sumter.  The  anniversary  of  the 
opening  of  the  war  was  celebrated  amid  omens  of 
returning  peace.  How  impressively  does  it  then 
teach  the  vanity  of  human  hopes.  But  it  is  also 
designed  and  calculated  to  lead  us  nearer  to  God,  to 
prompt  to  higher  trust  in  him.  "  Trust  ye  in  the 
Lord."  This  has  been  the  great  lesson  of  this  war. 
We  entered  it  with  confidence  in  the  resources  and 
prowess  of  the  nation,  but  in  the  first  great  struggle 
were  defeated.  How  the  national  heart  sunk  as  the 
tidings  of  that  disaster  flew  along  the  wires.  Then 
men  began  to  look  to  a  higher  power  for  aid,  and 
earnestly  pray. 

The  men  in  whom  we  have  most  trusted  have 
failed.  There  is  not  a  man  in  a  prominent  position 
in  the  army  to-day,  who  was  so  at  the  opening  of  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  39 

war.  Some  have  fallen,  others  have  retired.  The 
victory  has  been  achieved  by  men  who  had  no  pre 
vious  military  fame  to  excite  confidence.  Defeat  has 
come  when  we  were  most  confident,  victory  when  we 
were  depressed  and  looked  to  God. 

The  clouds  of  war  were  now  passing.  We  felt 
that  we  had  the  right  man  to  reconstruct  this  nation, 
and  confided  in  his  wisdom.  But  at  the  moment 
when  we  need  statesmanship  rather  than  military 
genius,  he  has  fallen.  Perhaps  we  were  trusting  too 
much  in  him.  Has  not  the  nation  felt  the  need  of 
reliance  upon  God  as  never  before  ?  Such  at  least 
have  been  my  feelings.  Never  in  my  history  did  I 
feel  as  now,  that  there  is  none  other  in  whom  man 
may  trust. 

God  has  a  purpose  in  permitting  this  great  evil. 
Our  late  President  had  nobly  acted  his  part  and  car 
ried  us  successfully  through  the  struggle.  And  his 
name  shall  be  honored  by  the  latest  generations  of 
men.  But  may  not  another  instrument,  a  man  of 
different  character  be  needed  at  the  present  moment  ? 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  two  most  favorable  to 
leniency  to  the  rebels  have  been  stricken.  Other 
members  of  the  government  were  embraced  in  the 
fiendish  plan,  but  as  to  them,  it  failed.  May  it  not 
be,  that  God  is  teaching  that  those  guilty  of  the  great 
crime  of  treason  shall  receive  condign  punishment? 
We  consign  to  death  the  man  who  murders  one ;  they 
have  murdered  thousands.  They  have  labored  to 


40  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

overthrow  a  government  instituted  "by  God  and  which 
was  the  hope  of  humanity.  God  designs  they  shall 
be  punished,  not  for  the  purpose  of  retaliation,  but  to 
deter  others;  not  to  gratify  feelings  of  revenge,  but 
to  save  posterity.  Clemency  and  magnanimity  are 
virtues  in  some  circumstances,  in  others  they  are  but 
weakness.  Clemency  to  the  guilty  is  cruelty  to  the 
innocent,  and  sad  will  it  be  for  the  nation,  if  our 
treatment  of  the  leading  traitors  proclaims  that  trea 
son  is  not  esteemed  a  crime. 

This  event  will  exert  another  important  influence. 
In  this  war  we  have  demonstrated,  to  the  confusion  of 
European  statesmen,  that  a  government  may  be  free 
and  liberal  in  its  character,  and  yet  possess  strength 
to  maintain  itself.  And  now,  we  are  proving  that 
this  strength  is  not  in  its  elected  head,  but  in  the 
body  of  its  people.  The  President  dies  but  the  peo 
ple  live,  and  hence  the  power  abides.  Abraham 
Lincoln  expires,  and  in  a  few  hours,  his  successor  is 
quietly  inducted,  and  to-day  the  government  is 
moving  on  as  if  nothing  had  occurred.  There  will 
be  no  shock,  the  armies  will  not  be  turned  from  their 
course,  financial  and  commercial  interests  will  not  be 
disturbed,  and  even  governmental  securities  will 
scarcely  be  affected. 

But  especially  are  we  admonished  to  trust  in  the 
Lord.  We  are  prone  to  rely  upon  the  human  instru 
ment.  We  relied  on  Lincoln  and  God  took  him. 
We  have  been  distrustful  of  his  successor.  Then 
should  we  look  beyond  him  to  God. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  41 

In  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  everlasting  strength.  He 
can  carry  oat  his  own  purposes.  This  event, 
calamitous  as  it  is,  can  be  overruled  for  the  nation's 
good.  The  history  of  the  world  evinces  this.  When 
Christ  was  crucified,  his  enemies  felt  they  had  fully 
triumphed.  The  disciples  were  in  despair.  That 
Saturday  he  lay  in  the  grave  was  to  them  much  like 
the  yesterday  to  us.  But  that  event,  apparently  so 
calamitous,  became  the  corner  stone  of  the  Christian 
system.  When  James  was  slain,  Stephen  stoned, 
Peter  arid  John  thrown  into  prison,  and  the  disciples 
driven  from  Jerusalem,  all  appeared  dark  and 
gloomy :  but  a  new  impetus  was  given  to  the  work. 

A  few  years  since,  our  church  sent  its  first  mission 
ary  to  Liberia.  The  church  was  enthusiastic.  A 
few  months  passed  and  tidings  came  that  our 
devoted  missionary  was  sleeping  in  the  sands  of 
the  African  coast.  Depression  followed  and  we  felt 
that  the  African  mission  was  buried  in  the  grave  of 
Cox.  But  his  dying  cry  "  Let  a  thousand  fall  rather 
than  Africa  be  given  up,"  roused  the  church,  and  the 
mission  lives  and  prospers.  "  God  buries  his  work 
men  but  carries  on  his  work." 

The  early  part  of  the  struggle  for  freedom  in 
Holland  was  mostly  sustained  by  the  personal  efforts 
and  influence  of  William,  Prince  of  Orange.  Others 
faltered  and  failed;  he  stood  firm.  Others  despaired; 
he  was  confident,  and  by  his  zeal  and  perseverance  he 
conducted  the  nation  through  long  years  of  conflict, 

6 


42  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

until  the  hope  of  Holland's  freedom  became  bright 
and  cheering.  Yet,  when  the  dagger  of  the  assassin 
struck  his  heart,  as  it  has  now  reached  the  heart  of 
our  President,  it  seemed  the  knell  of  every  hope. 
The  feeling  of  Holland  has  been  paralleled  only  by 
ours.  But  God  raised  up  other  agents  to  complete 
the  work  he  had  so  nobly  prosecuted,  and,  although 
he  lived  not  to  see  it,  Holland  was  free. 

So  will  it  be  in  our  case.  The  Lord  Jehovah  liveth 
and  will  provide  other  agents  in  the  place  of  him 
who  has  fallen.  The  officers  of  our  army  failed,  but 
God  raised  up  Grant  and  Sherman  and  Sheridan. 
He  can  as  easily  provide  statesmen. 

Then  let  us  trust  in  the  Lord,  for  in  him  is  everlast 
ing  strength.  Enemies  may  strike  down  princes,  but 
cannot  palsy  the  arm  Divine.  The  late  President 
shall  not  see  it,  but  God  will  carry  the  nation 
through. 

"All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  who 
love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called  according  to  his 
purpose."  Hath  not  God  chosen  this  nation,  and  will 
he  desert  it  now?  Is  it  not  a  Christian  country, 
doing  more  for  men  than  any  other  on  the  earth,  and 
will  he  suffer  it  to  be  destroyed  ?  Never  !  But  this 
our  fair  republic,  under  the  protection  of  Heaven, 
shall  long  remain,  a  blessing  to  mankind  and  a  model 
for  the  world.* 

*  The  sermon  of  which  the  above  is  a  sketch,  was  in  the  main 
extemporaneous.  In  a  note  to  the  editor,  the  writer  says  : —  "  Many 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  43 


SERMON  PREACHED  IN  THE  AFRICAN  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  ZION  CHURCH. 

BY  REV.  JACOB  THOMAS. 

Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a'  great  man  fallen  this  day  in 
Israel?  —  2  SAMUEL,  iii,  88. 

My  friends,  we  meet  at  this  hour  with  sad  hearts. 
We  have  been  stricken.  The  blow  has  fallen  heavily 
upon  us,  and  a  nation  mourns  to  day.  Truly  a  prince 
and  a  great  man  in  Israel  has  fallen.  We  cannot 
but  weep  bitter  tears  that  so  great  and  good  a  man  as 
Abraham  Lincoln,  has  been  cut  down  in  the  midst  of 
his  usefulness  by  a  death  so  cruel.  At  the  moment 
he  was  about  to  realize  the  great  results  of  his  four 
years  labor,  just  as  victory  had  perched  upon  our  ban 
ners,  he  fell  a  martyr  to  freedom.  We  shall  never 
look  upon  his  like  again. 

A  few  days  ago  joy  and  gladness  filled  every  heart. 
All  who  were  loyal  to  the  government  rejoiced  and 
gave  thanks  to  Almighty  God  because  of  the  victory 
won,  the  downfall  of  the  rebel  capital.  This  intelli 
gence  was  too  glorious  to  be  unalloyed.  Ere  our  joy 
had  subsided,  sorrow  overtook  us.  News  reached  us 
from  Washington  of  the  bloody  deed  perpetrated 
there.  We  would  not  believe  it.  It  could  not  be 

of  the  thoughts  were  suggested  by  the  excitement  of  the  hour,  and 
cannot  now  be  recalled.  I  have,  therefore,  simply  copied  the  brief 
supplying  such  additions  and  explanations  only,  as  were  necessary  to 
make  it  intelligible." 


44  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

possible  that  a  creature  in  the  form  of  man  could  be 
found  so  God-forsaken,  as  to  take  the  life  of  the  man 
who  had  malice  for  none  but  charity  for  all !  The 
hours  between  the  first  rumor  and  the  confirmation  of 
the  report,  were  hoars  of  dreadful  suspense.  But  the 
truth  came  at  last.  There  was  no  longer  room  for 
doubt.  It  was  too  true,  that  on  last  Friday  evening, 
whilst  enjoying  at  a  place  of  amusement  a  few  mo 
ments  of  relaxation  from  toil,  accompanied  by  his 
wife  and  a  few  friends,  unconscious  of  danger  near, 
he  was  brutally  murdered — shot  down  by  the  cow 
ardly  hand  of  an  assassin.  Palsied  he  the  tongue, 
withered  be  the  arm  of  the  guilty,  execrable  wretch 
who  committed  this,  the  blackest  of  all  crimes.  Yes, 
our  dear  President  is  no  more.  The  beloved  of  his 
country,  the  father  and  friend  of  the  oppressed,  the 
champion  of  universal  freedom,  has  fallen  a  victim 
to  southern  malice  and  revenge.  Kind  heaven  weeps 
to-day  over  the  bloody  spectacle. 

We,  as  a  people,  feel  more  than  all  others  that  we 
are  bereaved.  We  had  learned  to  love  Mr.  Lincoln 
as  we  have  never  loved  man  before.  We  idolized  his 
very^name.  We  looked  up  to  him  as  our  saviour, 
our  deliverer.  His  name  was  familiar  with  our  chil 
dren,  and  our  prayers  ascended  to  God  in  his  behalf. 
He  had  taughtjis  to  love  him.  The  interest  he  mani 
fested  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed,  the  weak  and  those 
who  had  none  to  help  them,  had  won  for  him  a  large 
place  in  our  heart.  It  was  something  so  new  to  us  to 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  45 

see  such,  sentiments  manifested  by  the  chief  magis 
trate  of  the  United  States  that  we  could  not  help  but  . 
love  him.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  we  mourn  to 
day  ?  Nay,  we  have  seen  old  gray-headed  men  and 
young  maidens  weep  because  of  this  affliction.  Had 
disease  attacked  him  and  he  had  passed  away  accord 
ing  to  the  natural  course  of  nature,  we  could  have 
consoled  ourselves  with  the  thought  that  it  was  God's 
will  it  should  be  so.  But  falling  as  he  did  by  the 
hand  of  the  wicked,  we  derive  our  consolation  only 
from  the  assurance  that  by  his  uprightness,  his  hon 
esty  and  his  principles  of  Christianity,  he  is  now  en 
joying  that  rest  that  remains  for  the  just. 

Our  text  is  a  fitting  one  for  the  occasion.  A  great 
man  has  fallen.  From  whatever  stand-point  we  view 
Mr.  Lincoln,  we  find  in  him  the  marks  of  true  great 
ness.  A  few  years  ago  this  plain,  homely  lawyer  was 
scarcely  known  outside  of  his  own  state.  But  how 
soon  did  he  become  the  point  of  attraction.  Not  only 
was  he  the  centre  of  observation  in  this  country,  but 
the  civilized  world  was  watching  him.  He  far  ex 
ceeded  the  expectations  of  all  men.  He  became  as  the 
ark  of  safety  to  his  country,  the  praise  and  glory  of 
his  fellow  men.  To  us  as  a  despised  people,  he  was  a 
second  Moses  —  a  second  Daniel  in  wisdom.  From  a 
humble  position  in  life  he  reached  the  very  summit  of 
honor,  occupied  the  highest  seat  that  it  was  in  the 
power  of  the  American  people  to  give  him,  and  filled 
that  seat  as  no  man  ever  filled  it  before  him.  The 


46  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

mind  that  conceived  and  drew  up  the  Proclamation  of 
•  Emancipation  was  a  great  mind.  The  results  of  this 
grand  deed  are  patent  to  all.  He  was  a  philanthropist 
in  the  most  extensive  sense  of  the  word  —  benevolent, 
kind,  and  ever  ready  to  make  others  happy.  One  of 
the  most  prominent  features  in  the  character  of  our 
departed  friend  was  his  merciful  disposition  even  to-  ~ 
wards  his  foes.  He  was  strictly  honest;  this  is  admit 
ted  by  his  worst  ^enemies.  "  Honest  Abe,"  he  was 
familiarly  called  by  all  classes.  He  was  honest  with 
his  people,  honest  to  himself,  honest  to  his  God.  This 
is  what  God  requires  of  all  men,  to  be  honest  in  heart. 
The  exterior  of  this  great  man  may  have  been  plain, 
homely  and  awkward,  but  the  interior /was  beautifully 
finished  and  furnished  with  Christian  graces.  It  was 
his  reliance  upon  God  that  carried  him  safely  through 
the  storm  of  four  years  duration.  It  was  this  that 
has  made  him  blessed  in  the  favor  of  God,  forever. 

Yes,  Abraham  Lincoln  is  no  more,  and  we  mingle 
our  tears  with  those  of  the  mourning  widow  and 
bereaved  friend.  "We  feel  that  in  his  loss  our  punish 
ment  is  t  more  that  we  can  bear,  yet  in  God  is  our 
consolation.  Let  us  hope  for  the  best.  An  all-wise  God 
has  permitted  this  great  grief  to  come  upon  us.  Let  us 
look  to  him  for  deliverance  in  the  time  of  our  distress. 
We  are  humbled,  we  are  mortified,  we  are  brought 
very  low.  Our  trust  must  be  in  God.  "Whilst  we 
mourn,  he  whose  death  we  deplore,  is  enjoying  the 
reward  of  his  labor,  happy  with  his  God,  mingling 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  47 

with  those  kindred  spirits  who  went  "before  him.  The 
two  truest  and  greatest  men  that  ever  lived  on  earth, 
John  Brown  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  have  met  in  glory, 
and  they  cease  not  to  give  praise  and  honor  to  him 
that  liveth  forever  and  ever.  The  memory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  will  ever  he  dear  to  us.  It  is  engraved  upon 
our  hearts.  It  can  never  he  effaced.  lie  has  been 
our  true  friend  and  we  never  can  forget  him.  We 
feel  as  though  God  had  raised  him  up  for  a  special 
purpose,  and  that  having  accomplished  the  labor 
assigned  him,  he  has  gone  to  his  rest.  May  God  pro 
tect  us  and  keep  us  from  farther  evils. 

SERMON   PREACHED   IN   THE  SECOND  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH,  ON  SUNDAY  MORNING. 

BY    REV.    D.    S.    GREGORY. 

The  Lord  God  Omnipotent  rcignetli.  —  REVELATION,  xix,  G. 

One  thought  to-day  fills  every  heart.  God  has  sent 
us  a  subject  for  our  solemn  consideration.  To-day 
there  is  a  nation  mourning.  I  have  seen  the  strong 
man  pass  along  these  streets  of  the  city  weeping  like 
a  child.  The  transition  from  the  highest  joy  to  the 
profounclest  sorrow  has  been  so  sudden,  so  instanta 
neous,  that  it  has  left  a  nation  with  a  broken  heart  and 
closed  mouth.  It  seems  almost  better  to  be  silent  to 
day  in  these  sanctuaries  and  let  God  speak.  He  has 
never  spoken  so  before  to  any  people.  In  the  capital 
of  this  nation  there  lies  dead  this  morning  one  who 


48  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

but  yesterday  was  the  honored  and  beloved  ruler  of 
this  land.  But  it  is  not  simply  that  a  president  is 
dead.  Other  and  honored  presidents  of  this  republic 
have  been  called  from  the  places  of  state  to  the  great 
account  and  no  such  mourning  been  witnessed  as  fills 
the  land  to-day.  One  has  fallen  now,  who  more  than 
any  other,  was  identified  with  this  grand  struggle  in 
which  we  have  been  engaged  for  these  four  years,  — 
one  who  was  strangely  designated  by  God  to  take  the 
lead  among  us,  and  who  had  honestly  and  nobly  and 
unselfishly  done  his  work,  and  quietly  found  his  place 
in  the  nation's  heart.  This  man  has  been  removed  in 
a  moment  by  an  assassin's  hand,  and  his  chief  counsel 
lor  lies  unconscious,  a  victim  to  the  same  fiendish 
spirit,  which  hoped  in  that  one  hour  to  reach  also  the 
life  of  the  leader  of  our  hosts. 

It  was  a  blow  aimed  at  the  nation  and  which  sought 
in  an  hour  to  destroy  the  work  of  these  years,  and  to 
stay  the  onward  march  of  truth  and  justice.  Ah,  vain 
thought !  There  is  one  upon  the  throne  who  rules  all 
things  and  who  cannot  be  reached  by  the  murderous 
bullet  or  the  assassin's  dagger  !  "  The  Lord  God  Om 
nipotent  reigneth"  and  truth  and  justice  shall  prevail! 
What  other  refuge  have  we  to-day?  What  other 
consolation  in  this  our  national  bereavement  ?  It  is  a 
dark  day,  but  "  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth." 
Let  us  dwell  upon  the  thought,  that  our  faith  in  God's 
truth,  in  God's  justice,  and  in  God's  love  may  not  be 
shaken  by  this  our  national  calamity. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  49 

1st.  Our  faith  in  this  Great  Ruler  and  His  govern 
ment  assures  us,  that  not  one  word  of  His  truth 
uttered  among  this  people  can  fall  to  the  ground. 

The  great  King  who  is  above  all  presidents,  has  all 
along  the  history  of  this  nation,  been  uttering  among 
us  and  through  us  to  the  world  with  peculiar  clear 
ness,  His  proclamation  of  truth  and  universal  freedom. 
Our  pilgrim  forefathers  built  upon  God's  word  of  free 
dom  at  the  first,  and  our  fathers  on  that  memorable 
day  of  1776  made  this  same  word  of  freedom  the  basis 
of  their  "Declaration,"  and,  again,  in  later  years 
made  it  the  foundation  of  the  national  constitution. 
They  proclaimed  freedom  for  man  in  the  name  of  God, 
but  they  were  merely  instruments  in  His  hands  whose 
word  they  proclaimed.  It  was  but  His  repeated  pro 
clamation  of  His  word  of  emancipation  to  man. 
Whatever  else  awaits  us  we  know  that  He  who  has 
made  these  utterances  is  omnipotent.  Yes,  there 
is  omnipotence  in  every  word  of  God  uttered  among 
men. 

The  efficiency,  the  omnipotence,  the  almightiness  of 
God's  word,  are  expressions  that  sound  strangely  to  us 
perhaps,  for  with  us  words  are  but  the  breath  shaped 
and  made  articulate,  and  then,  to  all  appearance,  dying 
away  on  the  air:  There  is  nothing  which  seems  at 
first  thought  more  fleeting  and  powerless  than  our 
words.  And  even  when  we  rise  above  this  first 
thought  and  consider  man's  words  of  eloquence,  sent, 
with  aid  of  logic  and  rhetoric,  out  of  the  depths  of 

7 


50  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

one  human  soul  aroused  to  the  highest  pitch  of  feel 
ing  and  enthusiasm,  into  another  such  soul,  to  rouse 
and  kindle  it  and  stir  it  to  its  profoundest  depths,  — 
there  is  nothing  like  omnipotence  about  it  all. 
There  is  nothing  in  its  power  but  the  working  of 
plain,  rational,  moral  and  aesthetic  principles.  It  is 
truth  instructing,  motive  swaying,  beauty  delighting, 
and  emotion  exciting.  And  so  far  as  we  see  the  outward 
workings  of  God's  words,  there  seems  to  be  nothing 
more  in  them  than  in  these  words  of  power  which  man 
utters.  We  know  that  the  most  eloquent  words  of 
the  orator  in  legislative  halls,  or  in  the  forum,  or  on  the 
rostrum,  fail  to  attain  in  most  cases,  even  with  the  use 
of  all  these  means,  what  he  who  utters  them  desires. 
To  look  at  the  matter  outwardly  it  seems  as  if  these 
words  of  God  fail  in  the  same  way  and  are  almost 
equally  powerless.  But  notwithstanding  all  this 
seeming,  God's  written  revelation  brings  before  us 
the  omnipotence  of  God's  word  of  promise  arid  grace. 
It  presents  it  as  differing  from  all  human  words  in 
this,  that  it  infallibly  and  unerringly  works  what  God 
sends  it  to  accomplish.  Every  word  of  God  is  the 
expression  of  a  Divine  force  in  man  or  in  the*  universe. 
Whatever  its  mission  it  knows  no  failure.  God  is 
with  it. 

The  prophet  Isaiah  illustrates  this  infallible  effi 
ciency  of  God's  word  in  its  relation  to  the  church  and 
to  man  by  one  of  the  great  processes  of  nature,  tie 
represents  the  rain  and  the  snow  as  descending  from 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  51 

heaven,  doing  tlieir  work  and  returning  again  to  the 
heavens  only  when  it  is  finished,  and  God  declares 
that  His  word  goes  thus  out  of  His  mouth  and  returns 
only  when  it  has  done  that  for  which  it  was  sent.  To 
the  careless  observer  the  rain  and  the  snow  might 
seem  to  fall  upon  the  earth  and  to  sink  into  its  hosom 
and  perish.  It  is  not  so.  Every  drop,  every  little 
crystal  has  its  circuit  by  which  it  returns  to  the 
heavens  as  inevitably  as  the  earth  returns  to  its  place 
in  its  orbit  at  its  appointed  season.  In  running  its 
round  each  accomplishes  its  own  work.  ISro  atom  re 
turns  to  its  plac*e  without  having  completed  that  to 
which  it  was  appointed.  It  return*  not  to  heaven  till 
it  "  has  watered  the  earth,  and  made  it  bear  and  put 
forth,  and  has  given  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  to 
the  eater." 

To  the  human  eye  the  rain-drop  and  the  snow- 
crystal  fall  carelessly  upon  mountain  or  valley,  but 
that  is  not  the  end  of  their  work.  One  drop  on  the 
mountain  sinks  into  the  pores  in  the  granite  or  lime 
stone.  God  meets  it  as  His  messenger  with  the  frost, 
and  thus  breaks  off  an  atom  of  the  rock  here  and 
there.  Another  drop  falls  upon  these  little  atoms 
and  gathers  them  up  in  its  bosom.  God  meets  it  as 
His  messenger  with  the  might  of  gravitation  and  bears 
the  water  and  the  lime-rock  down  the  mountain  into 
the  valley  to  unite  with  the  drops  that  have  fallen 
there,  in  enriching  and  moistening  the  valley  soil. 
There  in  the  lowlands  they  hold  dissolved  the  rich 


52  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

treasures  of  the  earth  which  are  needed  to  make  seed 
for  the  sower  and  bread  for  the  eater.  God  meets  one 
of  these  drops  as  His  messenger  with  the  forces  of 
capillary  attraction  and  vegetable  life  in  the  roots  of 
the  wheat,  and  the  drop  with  its  freight  is  drawn  up 
into  the  plant  and  in  due  time  sent  out  into  the  grains, 
and  when  it  has  deposited  all  its  load,  it  passes  out  at 
the  pores  of  the  plant  and  up  again  into  the  heavens 
to  do  a  like  work  when  God  shall  send  it  forth  once 
more  as  the  rain-drop  or  the  snow-crystal.  It  has  at 
last  left  the  wheat  ready  for  the  harvest,  and  returned 
to  the  place  whence  it  came,  but  it*has  finished  its 
work  first.  ISo  atom  of  it  all  is  lost.  We  cannot 
trace  it  all,  but  it  all  does  its  work,  and  its  return  to 
its  place  is  inevitable,  because  God's  word  of  omnipo 
tence  has  sent  it  and  His  hand  of  omnipotence  directed 
it.  Just  so  the  word  of  God  uttered  among  men  has 
its  inevitable  circuit,  and  never  fails  to  do  its  appointed 
work  before  it  returns  to  Him  whose  mouth  first  spoke 
it.  That  word  shall  accomplish  its  mission  just  as 
certainly  as  the  rain-drop.  The  King  upon  the  throne 
of  the  universe  directs  all  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
His  government  to  this  end.  While  the  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reigns  His  word  must  be  a  power  in  the 
world. 

With  men  there  is  always  a  distinction  between 
speaking  and  doing.  The  greatest  talkers  are  often 
the  most  insignificant  and  worthless  workers.  The 
man  who  is  full  of  plans,  and  who  is  always  proclaim- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  53 

ing  them  and  preparing  grand  machinery  with  which 
to  execute  them,  is  often  in  effect  the  veriest  idler, 
doing  nothing,  or  at  best  doing  nothing  as  it  should 
be  done.  It  sometimes  seems  as  if  there  were  very 
little  connection  between  man's  words  and  his  deeds. 
But  there  is  nothing  of  this  with  God.  With  Him 
speaking  and  doing  are  one.  "Whatever  He  speaks 
He  speaks  in  omnipotence.  With  Him  to  promise 
is  to  perform.  The  work  of  creation  is  the  omni 
potent  working  of  God's  word.  So  of  the  works  of 
providence  and  redemption.  The  word  of  creation 
and  the  work  of  creation,  the  word  of  providence  and 
the  work  of  providence,  the  word  of  redemption  and 
the  work  of  redemption,  are  not  to  be  set  apart  as  our 
human  words  and  works. 

Take  an  example.  This  vast  creation  is  but  an  em 
bodiment  of  God's  word.  The  apostle  Peter  in  the  3d 
chapter  of  his  2d  epistle,  teaches  that  "  by  the  word  of 
God  the  heavens  were  of  old,  and  the  earth  standing 
out  of  the  water  and  in  the  water."  "He  spake  and 
it  wras  done.  He  commanded  and  it  stood  fast."  It 
carries  us  back  in  imagination  into  that  limitless  past. 
There  was  a  day  when  the  earth  had  no  existence, 
when  the  sun  and  the  planets  had  as  yet  no  being. 
There  was  a  day  when  no  comet  winged  its  way  with 
lightning  speed  around  yonder  sun,  because  comet 
and  sun  as  yet  were  not.  There  was  a  time — I  will 
not  call  it  a  day,  for  there  were  no  days  then  — when 
not  even  one  lonely  star  shot  its  rays  across  immen- 


54  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

sity.  Empty  space — mighty  infinitude  of  empty 
space !  Had  there  been  a  creature  to  send  out  a 
greeting  into  that  mighty  deep,  no  echo  would  have 
come  hack  from  that  infinite  waste,  but  that  one  of 
"God!  God!  God!"  God  everywhere  and  God 
alone ! 

The  momentous  hour  appointed  in  the  counsels  of 
eternity  came  and  God's  word  of  creation  was  spoken. 
It  said  to  the  worlds  "  Be  "  and  they  were.  From 
non-existence  and  nothingness  came  every  atom  of 
the  universe  into  being,  and,  as  He  uttered  yet  again 
word  upon  word,  beauty  and  order  took  their  place 
everywhere.  The  earth  and  the  moon  whirled  round 
their  centre,  and  with  all  the  planets  and  comets 
round  the  sun,  their  hundreds  and  thousands  of  mil 
lions  of  miles.  And  our  sun  with  its  train,  with  the 
myriad  suns  of  our  star-system  with  their  trains,  cir 
cled  round  Alcyone  in  their  orbits  of  millions  of 
millions  of  miles.  And  star-mass  after  star-mass  infi 
nite  in  number,  scattered  throughout  the  universe  to 
the  immeasurable  distances  of  its  remotest  bounds, 
commenced  around  the  great  centre  of  all  motion 
those  movements  only  to  be  measured  by  the  endless 
cycles  of  eternity.  It  was  the  simple  word  of  God  that 
gave  them  all  being,  and  sent  them  on  their  awful 
way,  clothing  them  with  beauty  and  peopling  them 
with  living  and  intelligent  things.  Look  out  upon  it 
all !  Gird  up  your  imagination  for  a  flight  from  sun 
to  sun,  arid  star  to  star,  and  system  to  system,  and 


LINCOLN  MEMOEIAL.  55 

star-mass  to  star-mass,  until  3^011  are  overwhelmed 
with  a  sense  of  your  nothingness-  and  its  infinitude. 
Remember  then  that  all  this  is  only  God's  word  —  one 
utterance  of  His  lips  !  "  He  commanded  and  it  stood 
fast." 

Now  God's  word  of  freedom  proclaimed  to  man  is 
not,  as  we  too  often  think,  so  much  empty  breath. 
It  is  the  same  omnipotent  word  that  works  at  one 
time  instantaneously,  as  in  creation,  and  then  again 
slowly  and  through  the  ages,  as  in  providence.  God 
reigns,  an  absolute  sovereign,  and  every  one  of  His 
utterances  is  the  expression  of  a  Divine  force  in 
His  vast  realm,  and  whether  working  without  time 
or  with  time,  works  its  results  infallibly  and  with 
almighty  power.  It  cannot  fail,  because  it  is  the  word 
of  omnipotence  and  omnipotence  cannot  fail.  The 
gospel  proclamation  of  freedom  to  man  is  working 
out  His  purpose  among  men  just  as  certainly  and  just 
as  irresistibly  as  the  rain-drop  fulfils  its  mission,  or  as 
electricity,  or  gravitation,  or  any  one  of  these  great 
forces  of  nature,  its  mission. 

It  seems  a  sad  day  for  us  who  have  been  watch 
ing  through  these  years  the  progress  of  God's  truth 
among  this  people.  The  powers  of  darkness  against 
which  His  word  has  been  making  its  wray  so  steadily 
and  so  grandly  for  these  generations,  until  the  na 
tion's  proclamation  had  come  to  be  at  one  with  God's 
proclamation,  seem  to  have  roused  themselves  and 
gathered  up  their  energies  for  one  last  fiendish  effort 


56  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

to  stay  that  resistless  march  of  truth  over  the  nations 
and  through  the  ages.  Vain,  wholly  vain  !  What 
ever  betide,  God's  word  has  gone  forth  to  the  nation,  .' 
and  that  cannot  fail.  See  what  it  has  already  done 
for  human  freedom.  One  man  has  stood  forth  before 
the  world  as  the  representative  of  these  great  Divine 
principles.  To-day  he  is  gone,  and  you  may  sweep 
away  all  such  men,  and  the  grand  principles  will  still 
remain  the  same. 

Through  whatever  throes  the  nation  may  pass, 
though  the  land  from  east  to  west,  and  from  north  to 
south  be  again  drenched  in  blood,  and  all  our  great 
ones  be  called  to  sleep  with  him  who  has  already 
gone  to  his  last  sleep,  God's  word  of  freedom  will 
still  be  doing  its  almighty  work  in  its  myriad  ways, 
and,  when  these  human  eyes  are  blinded  with  tears, 
even  when  lost  to  human  sight  and  almost  to  human 
faith,  it  will  still  be  working  irresistibly  as  ever  to 
ward  the  ushering  in  of  the  day  of  His  glory.  "The 
Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth."  Not  one  word  of  His 
shall  fall  to  the  ground.  This  nation  shall  be  re 
generated  ;  man,  made  in  Gods  image,  shall  be  freed 
from  his  bondage  and  lifted  up  from  his  debasement ; 
and  we  shall  be  crowned  with  God's  richest  blessings. 
The  day  hastens  on  apace  when  we  shall  proclaim  to 
the  world  that  the  time  of  freedom  and  blessing  is 
come,  and  when  the  voice  of  all  nations  shall  respond 
with  a  shout  of  joy  and  exultation  "  Alleluia,  The 
Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  57 

2d.  Our  faitli  in  this  Great  Ruler  and  His  govern 
ment  assures  us,  of  the  triumph  of  His  justice. 

Justice  is  one  of  the  grandest  principles  in  God's 
government.  He  is  Himself  just,  always  just,  and  in 
all  His  ways  there  is  never  the  slightest  departure 
from  justice.  There  is  no  yielding  of  justice  even  to 
love.  The  one  principle  which  runs  through  His 
mighty  realm  of  the  universe  is  "An  eye  for  an  eye 
and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  There  is  never  any  de 
parture  from  it  there.  He  embodied  this  stern  idea 
of  justice  in  that  Jewish  constitution,  which  in  its 
fundamental  principles  is  the  model  for  all  time, 
"An  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  He  has 
not  departed  one  hairbreadth  from  it  even  in  the 
work  of  redemption.'  When  Christ  was  sent  forth  to 
die  for  lost  sinners,  love  did  not  put  justice  away  but 
found  in  the  Incarnate  Son  a  satisfaction  to  justice,  so 
that  in  Jesus,  God  is  both  "  merciful  and  just  to  forgive 
us  our  sins,"  is  "just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  the  mi- 
godly."  Everywhere  His  justice  reigns.  It  may  seem 
at  times  as  if  there  were  no  just  Ruler  in  the  world, 
none  to  uphold  eternal  justice.  Things  may  seem  to 
go  all  wrong,  but  it  is  not  so,  can  not  be  so  while  God 
reigns.  "With  the  individual  the  account  may  not  be 
strictly  balanced  here,  for  there  is  for  him  a  re 
surrection  from  the  dead,  a  judgment  beyond  the 
grave,  a  final  and  eternal  adjustment  of  the  great  ac 
count.  Not  so  with  the  nation.  Its  account  will  be 
settled  here.  There  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead 


58  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

nation.  When  it  goes  down  in  the  tide  of  time  it  is 
gone  forever — body  and  soul.  Its  name  may  still 
remain.  Historians  and  orators  may  speak  and  poets 
sing  its  praises,  and  the  mighty  wave  of  influence 
which  sums  up  the  power  of  all  its  living  thoughts, 
and  words,  and  deeds,  shall  doubtless  roll  out  into  the 
utmost  bounds  of  space  and  down  toward  the  remo 
test  shores  of  the  ocean  of  eternity,  but  the  nation,  the 
body  politic  itself,  sleeps  a  sleep  that  knows  no  wak 
ing.  The  judgment  trump  will  not  disturb  it.  It 
shall  summon  no  ghost  of  departed  empire  or  state  to 
appear  before  the  great  judge.  Caesars  and  Napo 
leons  will  be  there,  but  only  as  men ;  their  thrones 
and  sceptres  shall  have  perished.  Kings  and  presi 
dents  will  be  there,  but  only  as  men ;  their  glory  and 
their  power  shall  have  faded.  They  shall  be  there 
with  the  sins  of  the  emperor  and^king  and  president 
on  their  heads,  but  with  nothing  but  their  manhood 
before  God.  Not  the  highest  and  mightiest  of  them 
all,  shall  bear  up  with  him  the  lost  and  dead  state 
restored  to  life. 

This  earth  itself  is  the  scene  of  national  judgment : 
the  scene  of  national  reward  as  well  as  of  national 
retribution.  God  appears  in  history  judging  the 
nations  and  dispensing  strict  justice  among  them. 
"Behold  He  cometh  to  judge  the  earth."  "He  shall 
judge  the  earth  with  righteousness."  As  He  exe 
cuted  judgment  upon  Moab  and  Ammon.and  Edom 
and  Philistia,  cutting  off  man  and  beast,  visiting  their 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL,  59 

coasts  with  desolation,  that  they  might  not  be  remem 
bered  among  the  nations,  so  has  He  been  executing 
judgment  upon  the  nations  in  all  time,  blotting  one 
by  one  out  of  existence  as  their  measure  was  filled. 

That  day  when  the  trump  of  God  shall  sound  and 
the  archangel's  voice  rend  the  heavens  and  shake  the 
earth  with  his  "  Come  up  to  judgment,"  will  be  a 
day.of  awful  grandeur  to  one  who  from  afar  off  can 
behold  the  rolling  up  of  these  heavens  and  the  melt 
ing  of  this  solid  globe,  and  see  the  whirling  dust  of 
the  myriads  of  the  dead  small  and  great,  as  it  is  gath 
ered  from  earth  and  ocean  and  hurried  up  —  up  by 
the  arm  of  Omnipotence,  while  still  fashioning  into 
bone  and  sinew  and  nerve  and  flesh,  to  where  the 
thrones  of  judgment  are  set.  But  had  I  the  imagi 
nation,  I  could  portray  a  scene  of  like,  if  not  equal 
grandeur  as  it  passes  day  by  day  before  that  eye  of 
Omniscience  which  takes  in  all  things  in  one  vision, 
on  this  great  theatre  of  the  world  in  the  judgment  of 
the  nations.  There  is  that  same  Eternal  Judge,,  that 
same  eternal  law  of  righteousness.  The  trumpet, 
which  summons  to  that  judgment,  is  the  gathered 
thunder  of  the  providences  which  have  startled  the 
nations  in  all  time,  and  that  judgment  is  the  history 
of  this  world  for  all  those  ages  which  are  but  as  one 
instant  to  God.  Wrecks  of  nations,  instead  of  the 
dust  of  men,  are  hurried  up  to  that  throne  to  be  con 
sumed  from  before  His  presence  or  hurried  away  into 
oblivion. 


60  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

In  the  light  of  this  thought,  the  events  in  the  career 
of  a  nation,  acquire  a  new  significance  as  well  as  a 
new  importance.  The  hand  of  the  Great  Ruler  is 
there  dispensing  judgment,  and  we  know  that  noth 
ing  shall  go  counter  to  the  eternal  principles  of  His 
justice.  However  dark  it  may  seem,  the  "Lord  God 
omnipotent  reigns."  A  God  of  justice  is  on  the 
throne.  For  four  years  we  have  been  looking  on,  to 
see  the  treachery  of  men  in  rebellion  against  a  right 
eous  and  good  government.  The  wicked  have 
seemed  at  times  to  prevail,  though  scoffing  at  hu 
manity  and  scorning  the  truth  and  mocking  God. 
This  splendid  heritage  here,  whose  foundations  our 
fathers  laid  in  God's  own  truth,  whose  fair  fields  and 
towering  bulwarks  they  watered  and  cemented  with 
their  blood,  and  which  gave  such  grand  promise  for 
the  future  to  our  children  and  to  all  this  great,  lost, 
wailing  humanity,  whose  cry  comes  up  from  the  bond 
age  of  all  lands, —  this  princely  heritage  we  have  seen 
desolated,  that  law  which  is  of  God  we  have  seen 
defiled,  these  altars  we  have  seen  desecrated,  these 
million  watching,  aching  eyes  we  have  seen  filled 
.with  tears,  and  these  myriad  broken  hearts  with  an 
guish.  God  has  been  looking  upon  the  treachery 
of  treacherous  ones,  and  the  all-just  One  has  seemed 
standing  by  silently,  with  His  robe  of  omnipotence  put 
off,  while  the  wicked  has  devoured  the  man  that  is 
more  righteous  than  he,  and  while  His  people  have 
been  crying  in  agony  day  and  night  "  How  long  ? 
Hath  God  forgotten  ?" 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  61 

And  now  again,  just  as  the  light  seemed  breaking 
and  Jehovah  taking  His  place  of  justice  once  more, 
the  land  has  to  day  been  shrouded  in  deeper  dark 
ness  by  this  most  horrible  murder  of  modern  times, 
which  has  taken  from  us  our  beloved  and  honored 
Chief  Magistrate.  Again  and  more  bitterly  are  we 
disposed  to  cry  "  How  long  1  Hath  God  forgot 
ten?  "  He  has  seemed  so  slow  in  the  fulfilment  of 
His  promises  and  in  the  execution  of  His  threaten- 
ings.  His  justice  and  his  omnipotence  have  seemed 
so  to  stand  aside  while  the  wicked  have  wrought 
their  pleasure  in  the  nation.  But  the  Eternal  God  of 
justice  is  on  his  throne  yet,  and  I  hear  a  voice  saying 
"  Take  courage.  Do  things  seem  to  you  to  go  all 
wrong?  Does  it  seem  to  you  at  times  that  wicked 
ness  prospers  and  prevails  ?  Does  God  seem  to  hide 
His  face  when  -you  cry,  while  the  old  landmarks  are 
removed,  and  the  old  and  strong  foundations  are 
broken  up  ?  Is  He,  the  great  judge  of  all  the  earth, 
slow  in  visiting  transgression  ?  Take  courage.  God 
is  on  the  throne.  He  only  seems  to  you  to  wait. 
Even  this  seeming  delay  is  full  of  the  mercy  of  God." 
"  What  if  some  did  not  believe  ?  shall  that  make  the 
faith  of  God  of  none  effect?"  £Tay,  rather,  every 
threatened  judgment  of  God  shall  meet  with  perfect 
and  complete  fulfilment  in  due  season,  in  that  hour 
which  God  sees  best  for  us  and  best  for  the  world  and 
best  for  his  own  great  glory. 

"  His  purposes  will  ripen  fast, 
Unfolding  every  hour." 


62  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Remember  that  while  here  the  faith  and  patience 
of  the  steadfast  in  this  nation  are  being  tried,  and 
yonder  the  wicked  are  treasuring  up  wrath  against 
the  day  of  wrath,  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  is  above 
all,  working  out  His  own  mighty  purposes  of  salva 
tion  in  His  own  wise  and  infinitely  grand  and  sublime 
way,  and  believe  that  He  in  His  justice  is  "not  slack 
as  some  men  count  slackness."  Oh,  in  that  great 
final  day  it  will  appear  that  God  was  not  too  slow  for 
the  rebellious,  not  too  slow  for  the  treacherous  and 
the  scoffer,  aye,  and  above  all,  not  too  slow  for  the 
good  and  the  glory  of  His  own  beloved  !  Eternal 
justice  shall  everywhere  prevail,  for  the  "Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reign eth,"  and  works  as  truly  in  the 
darkness  as  in  the  light. 

3d.  Our  faith  in  this  great  Ruler  and  His  govern 
ment  assures  us,  that  it  shall  be  well  with  those 
who  have  God's  truth  and  justice  on  their  side. 
God's  love  shall  prevail  no  less  than  His  justice. 

In  the  darkness  do  we  know  that  it  will  be  well 
with  us  ?  Yes,  O  yes  ! 

"  I  cannot  always  trace  the  way 
Where  thou,  Almighty  One,  dost  move ; 
But  I  can  always,  always  say, 
That  God  is  love,  that  God  is  love/' 

Can  it  be  so  to  day,  as  this  stricken  nation  weeps  ? 
Is  it  for  the  best  ?  Is  it  in  love  to  those  who  hold  by 
God's  truth  and  justice?  It  almost  seems  to  us  in 
our  blindness  as  if  it  could  not  be  !  We  are  over 
whelmed  when  we  think  of  the  awful  event !  Taken 


LINCOLN  MEMOEIAL.  63 

when  we  least  thought  of  it   and   in  so  horrible  a 
way ! 

Well  may  the  nation  mourn  !  The  man  is  gone, 
who,  acknowledged  or  unacknowledged,  has  been  the 
great  earthly  leader  in  this  mighty  life  and  death 
struggle  of  the  nation,  the  man  whom  God  seemed  so 
strangely  to  designate  for  the  place, —  gone  just  after 
the  voice  of  the  people  had  given  their  approval  to 
his  general  course  in  the  past  by  calling  him  to  the 
presidency  for  a  second  term, —  gone  when,  by  his 
honesty  and  integrity,  he  had  won  the  hearts  of  the 
men,  who  most  differed  with  him, —  gone  in  the  hour 
of  triumph,  when  the  symbol  of  national  authority 
had  just  been  restored  again  to  wave  forever  over  the 
chief  stronghold  of  a  godless  rebellion,  and  the 
mightiest  army  of  that  rebellion  had  just  been 
ground  to  powder  by  Almighty  justice, —  gone  in  the 
hour  when  the  blood  and  tears  and  groans  of  these 
millions  had  knit  the  nation's  heart  to  his  as  to  none 
before  but  the  sainted  Washington, —  gone  in  the 
hour  of  his  greatest  magnanimit}^,  when  his  mighty 
heart  had  been  opened  to  receive  even  traitors  back 
to  fellowship, —  gone  just  four  years  from  the  first 
attack  upon  the  nation's  life  at  Sumter,  and  on  the 
very  day  that  the  emblem  of  authority,  justice  and 
liberty  had  been  restored  again  to  wave  forever  over 
that  same  Sumter, —  and  gone  too  by  foul  conspiracy 
which  struck  at  the  heart  of  the  nation  by  murder 
in  cold  blood,  the  very  fitting  embodiment  of  the 


64  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

spirit  of  secession,  the  spirit  of  murder, —  gone  by  a 
crime  such  as  heaven  has  not  looked  upon  in  these 
modern  ages  since  the  crucifixion  !  What  wonder 
that  the  nation  mourns  !  Can  such  a  thing  be  well  ? 
Can  there  be  love  or  mercy  in  such  a  thing  ?  "  No, 
no,  it  cannot  be" — our  hearts  would  say.  But  when 
we  look  at  God's  ways  with  us,  and  remember  that 
God  reigns,  we  must  say  by  faith  "Yes,  it  is  well1' 
"It  is  best.  God  has  done  it." 

We  can  look  back  over  these  four  years  now  and 
see  how  God  has  led  us.  It  has  not  been  in  our 
ways.  If  we  could  have  made  the  history,  there 
would  have  been  no  Bull  Run,  and  therefore,  no  Don- 
elsoh  and  Yicksburg  and  Chattanooga  and  Atlanta, 
no  peninsular  campaign,  no  Antietam,  no  Gettys 
burg,  no  Wilderness,  no  Petersburg  and  Richmond, 
none  of  this  blood  and  tears  and  wailing,  and  no 
human  proclamation  of  freedom  to  man.  But  God 
has  made  it  otherwise.  If  man  could  have  had  his 
way  we  should  to-day,  by  the  reach  of  this  plot, 
which  has  taken  our  Chief  Magistrate,  have  been  left 
rulerless,  leaderless,  statesmanless.  God  reigns,  and 
the  very  day  that  has  taken  so  much  has  proved  to  us 
by  saving  so  much,  that,  while  God's  truth  prevails 
and  God's  justice  triumphs,  it  shall  all  be  well  with 
us  if  we  hold  fast  our  faith  in  Him.  Let  us  bow  in 
His  presence  then  to-day,  and,  while  we  acknowledge 
His  right  to  reign,  confess  by  faith  that  He  does  all 
things  well. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  65 

But  as  the  nation  mourns,  let  it  ask  anxiously, 
"  Why  has  God  done  it?"  It  would  be  vain  to  try  to 
shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  we  are  a  different 
people  to-day  from  what  we  were  on  the  morning  of 
yesterday.  The  almost  slumbering  sense  of  justice 
has  been  aroused,  and  one  mighty  yearning  for 
vengeance  has  gone  up  to  heaven  from  a  sorely  tried, 
long  forbearing  and  much  forgiving  nation.  The 
thought  of  the  Christian  heart  of  this  land  and  its 
stem  determination  is  that  there  shall  henceforth  be 
no  more  talk  of  that  weak  mercy  which  would  call 
upon  our  rulers  to  override  all  the  principles  of 
eternal  justice  to  save  the  lives  of  men  who  are  a 
million  times  murderers.  I  do  but  read  the  thoughts 
of  men  everywhere  when  I  say  it. 

But  let  the  nation,  while  it  stands  by  God's  justice, 
beware  of  passion  to-day,  and,  while  this  sad  event  is 
fixing  in  the  depths  of  the  heart,  the  truth,  that  by 
the  principles  of  God's  word,  the  forgiveness,  by  the 
national  authorities,  of  those  political  leaders  whose 
hands  are  so  dyed  in  blood,  would  be  a  crime  against 
the  present  and  the  future  —  against  the  living  and 
the  dead  —  against  humanity  and  against  God, —  let 
every  thing  like  personal  enmity  and  vindictiveness 
be  put  away,  while  we  go  forward  to  the  right  in 
God's  name.  And  if  these  tears  do  but  nerve  the 
nation  to  mingle  a  wise  justice  with  a  wise  love  it  shall  be 
found  at  the  great  day  of  final  reckoning  that  they 
have  not  been  in  vain.  But  oh,  above  all,  whatever 

9 


66  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL, 

befall,  let  us  believe  that  "  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent 
reisrneth !" 


SERMON  PREACHED  IN  THE  UNITARIAN  CHURCH. 


BY  REV.    E.    BUCKINGHAM. 


The  preacher  is  incapable  of  adequate  speech,  in 
the  midst  of  the  feelings  with  which  the  community 
is  oppressed.  He  can  do  no  more  on  sucli  an  occa 
sion,  than  make  the  attempt  to  interpret  our  own 
thoughts  to  us,  or  rather  to  interpret  to  us  the 
thoughts  with  which  God  is  visiting  us.  Many  com 
mon  expressions  of  truth  at  once  present  themselves 
to  our  minds,  as  that  "good  is  to  come  out  of  evil," 
that  "  God's  providence  is  over  all,"  that  "our  country 
is  safe  with  God,"  that  "we  bow  with  submission 
before  him."  Such  sentiments  are  almost  universal. 
Public  proclamations  and  common  conversations,  the 
newspapers  and  the  churches  speak  them ;  they  are 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

Yet  they  do  not  forbid  the  heaviness  of  the  heart. 
They  cannot  prevent  our  amazement  and  terror,  our 
wondering  of  mind  and  wandering  of  thought,  our 
sense  of  bereavement  and  affliction.  Our  suffering  is 
not  national  only,  but  personal  as  well.  We  shudder 
at  the  crime,  its  treachery  and  its  violence;  the 
hatred  and  malice  of  it;  the  contempt  for  the  country 
and  of  its  millions  shown  in  it ;  the  contempt  for  the 
voices  of  the  wise  and  of  the  multitudes.  We  shud- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  67 

dcr  at  the  dreadful  impiety  of  it.  The  scene  and 
circumstance  add  to  the  acuteness  of  the  pain  with 
which  we  are  overwhelmed.  In  the  midst  of  his 
family,  in  innocent  festivities  "which  he  had  attended 
only  from  kindly  motives,  out  of  regard  for  the  wishes 
of  his  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens,  in  a  moment,  the 
President  was  taken  out  of  life.  No  farewell  was 
allowed  to  wife  and  children ;  no  farewell  to  his 
countrymen ;  no  opportunity  was  given  for  a  last  ex 
pression  of  his  wishes  and  his  love.  It  would  have 
been  awful  had  he  been  a  hereditary  ruler,  imposed 
on  the  people, —  if  he  had  been  a  man  of  unhappy 
character,  from  whom  the  people  were  alienated. 
But  he  had  the  confidence  of  the  nation ;  probably  no 
ruler  in  the  world  ever  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his 
people  in  so  great  a  degree.  We  trusted  in  his  in 
tegrity,  his  calmness,  his  wisdom,  his  kindness. 

lie  was  one  of  us ;  we  all  felt  that  he  belonged  to 
us.  It  was  not  that  he  was  born  in  a  condition  of  life 
from  which  the  great  majority  derive  their  origin,  or 
that  he  had  tried  poverty  and  labor  with  the  humblest, 
and  so  might  be  disposed  to  understand  the  lot  of  the 
people,  and  know  how  to  sympathize  with  them.  It 
was  his  nature  to  be  one  with  humanity,  and  the  ele 
vation  of  his  office,  the  immensity  of  his  responsibili 
ties,  and  the  laboriousness  of  his  cares  never  at  all 
diminished  in  his  heart  the  sense  of  being  one  with 
the  people.  Their  sorrows  and  their  joys,  their  dan 
gers  and  their  security  he  felt  as  his  own.  He  was  to 


68  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

them  as  a  member  o'f  their  families  and  as  an  indi 
vidual  friend. 

Few  persons  in  the  world,  comparatively,  have  ever 
shown  in  an  equal  degree  this  sense  of  the  common 
humanity.  Robert  Burns,  the  poet  of  the  poor,  who 
sung  their  humble  griefs,  their  humble  virtues  or  hap 
piness  ;  John  Wesley,  the  preacher  of  the  poor,  who 
went  to  find  them  and  sought  them  out,  and  bore  the 
gospel  of  salvation  to  them,  were  men  of  like  disposi 
tion.  -And  when  we  have  called  to  mind  a  few  such,  as 
literature,  religion,  or  statesmanship  recount  them 
to  us,  we  find  no  more  who  can  be  said  to  resemble 
our  President,  till  we  reach  the  apostles,  in  their  large 
and  tender  hearts,  or  ask  if  such  sense  of  human 
sympathy  was  not  the  peculiar  element  in  the  loveliness 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Where,  in  history  beside,  do  we  find 
among  the  great  and  exalted  such  simplicity,  such 
naturalness,  such  fullness  and  tenderness  of  heart,  as  in 
the  sublime  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg  ?  his 
personal  letter  to  the  centenarian  voter  at  Sturbridge  ? 
the  letters  which  he  wrote  from  his  high  position 
to  the  humble  bereaved,  whose  afflictions  were  brought 

7  O 

to  his  notice  ?  and  in  his  manners  and  expressions  to  the 
wounded,  sick  and  suffering,  when  he  chanced  to  meet 
them,  or  walked  through  the  hospital  to  give  his  per 
sonal  thanks  and  the  thanks  of  the  nation  to  them  for 
the  patriotism  and  fidelity  which  they  had  exhibited? 
We  couple  his  name  with  that  of  Washington.  i^one 
greater  than  Washington,  it  is  the  national  belief,  has 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  69 

appeared  in  the  course  of  history;  and  the  careful 
thinkers  and  patriot  minds  of  other  nations  unite  with 
us  in  our  estimate.  But  exalted  as  was  the  personal 
character  of  Washington,  we  feel  that  our  nation  has 
been  immeasurably  blessed  in  the  grandeur  of  two  men, 
who  stand  equally  among  the  greatest  and  best  of  the 
world.  It  is  singular  how  deeply  into  society,  the  love 
for  Mr.  Lincoln  penetrates.  His  name  was  dear  in 
the  family  circle.  Little  children  knew  and  loved  it. 
A  whole  race  of  our  fellow-men,  under  the  Providence 
of  God,  owned  him  as  their  benefactor  and  father. 
He  gave  them  life.  He  changed  them  to  men.  He 
gave  them  wives  and  husbands,  parents  and  children. 
He  gave  them  liberty  to  say  "father"  and  "  mother." 
He  consecrated  marriage  to  them,  and  permitted  them 
to  speak  of  home.  He  gave  them  prospects  and  hopes, 
and  the  enjoyment  of  blessed  liberty.  I  do  not  ask, 
whether  another  in  similar  circumstances  might  not 
have  done  the  same,  o*r  have  done  it  at  an  earlier  day, 
or  in  some  more  striking  manner.  Mr.  Lincoln  did  it 
not  as  a  statesman  only,  but  as  a  man.  He  did  it  with 
his  heart. 

I  shall  not  ask  what  his  place  was  among  the  histo 
rical  statesmen  of  the  world,  nor  whether  he  was  a  great 
man,  beyond  his  goodness,  nor  in  what  intellectual 
abilities  or  force  of  character  especially  he  was  great. 
Partly  because  the  age  is  not  ready  for  the  discussion, 
as  we  must  remove  to  some  distance  in  order  to  esti 
mate  magnitude;  nor  is  it  necessary  in  our  admiration, 


70  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

love  and  sorrow,  to  attempt  the  measure  of  his  power. 
And  partly,  also,  because  only  the  great  can  compre 
hend  the  great.  A  clown  cannot  comprehend  a 
Newton.  Pontius  Pilate  could  not  comprehend  Jesus 
Christ.  History,  alone,  in  the  course  of  ages,  can  find 
authority  to  give  the  verdict  of  greatness. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  borne  his  honors  modestly  and 
simply.  He  had  not  used  them,  for  his  avarice  or  his 
ambition.  He  made  no  personal  enemies  in  the  be 
stowal  of  office,  in  the  irritation  of  those  to  whom 
office  was  denied,  through  their  conviction  that  it  was 
bestowed  for  the  furtherance  of  sinister  ends  of  his 
own.  He  fell  under  no  suspicion  of  using  his  high 
position  for  selfish  objects;  his  office  through  him  in 
curred  no  such  contempt.  He  governed,  or  rather, 
with  singular  truth  it  maybe  said,  he  served,  not 
according  to  his  own  wisdom,  but  according  to  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  whose  servant  he  was,  as  he  care 
fully  made  himself  acquainted  with  them.  We  never 
felt  that  he  was  imposing  on  us.  He  was  not  using, 
contrarily  to  our  will,  the  power  we  had  intrusted  to 
him.  We  found  in  him  no  special  theories  or  abstrac 
tions,  in  pride  of  which  he  was  pursuing  his  own  way. 
He  followed  out  no  cold  and  heartless  logic,  to  which 
the  people  must  succumb.  He  indulged  in  no  con 
ceits.  He  indulged  in  no  self-will.  For  such  reasons, 
we  confided  in  him  and  loved  him. 

And  in  estimating  the  will  of  the  people,  that  he  might 
guide  his  action  in  accordance  with  it,  it  is  remarkable 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  71 

how  he  did  not  consider  alone,  as  public  sentiment,  the 
expressions  of  men  in  public  station,  nor  influential 
newspapers,  nor  resolutions  of  conventions  only.  He 
saw  a  public  mind,  a  popular  will  beyond  all  these. 
Nor  was  it  alone  the  momentary  expressions  of  public 
will,  that  he  considered  as  public  sentiment,  from 
whatever  sources  they  might  be  found  to  originate.  He 
seems  sometimes  to  have  seen  into  men's  sentiments 
more  deeply  than  they  saw  themselves.  He  seems, 
with,  more  than  usual  depth  of  insight,  to  have 
looked  into  human  hearts  in  order  to  find  therein  the 
will  of  God.  In  man,  he  reverenced  the  voice  of  God ; 
and,  in  his  knowledge  of  God,  he  sought  more  clearly 
to  read  the  thought  of  human  nature,  the  general 
conscience,  the  universal  and  the  final  will. 

In  our  overwhelming  sadness,  we  say,  "  it  is  the 
worst  news  since  the  war  begun."  In  a  sense  it  is  so. 
It  appears  to  our  hearts  as  in  many  ways  the  most 
horrible.  Yet  we  trust  it  is  not  so  bad  for  the  nation, 
as  great  defeats  in  war  would  have  been.  It  cannot 
be  thought  to  be  so  bad,  as  treason  of  parties  and 
states ;  nor  so  injurious  as  the  foreign  sympathy 
which  has  been  so  largely  given  to  the  cause  of  the 
rebellion ;  nor  as  the  intervention  of  foreign  powers 
and  their  recognition  of  the  Confederate  States  would 
have  been.  The  nation  lives.  The  common  idea 
that  nations  depend  on  individuals,  and  that  their 
places,  when  vacated,  cannot  be  supplied,  history  does 
not  sustain.  Among  the  modern  discoveries  of 


72  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

science,  none  is  more  remarkable,  and  perhaps  none 
better  established  than  this,  that  the  course  of  nations 
has  its  order  and  its  law,  and  that  God  is  working  out, 
through  all  apparently  accidental  changes,  still, 
his  -vast  designs.  The  death  of  Julius  Caesar  is  a 
scarcely  noticeable  event  in  the  course  which  the  Ro 
man  people  and  empire  were  pursuing.  It  wrought  no 
greater  freedom  to  the  aristocracy  or  the  populace  ;  it 
excited  no  further  war ;  the  national  prosperity  was 
not  destroyed  by  it.  When  Marat  died  under  the 
dagger  of  Charlotte  Corclay,  the  French  Revolution 
became  none  the  less  sanguinary  and  horrible. 
Charles  the  first  died  his  violent  death,  but  tyranny 
did  not  die  with  him.  Louis  the  sixteenth  was  also 
put  to  a  violent  end,  but  royalty  lived  in  the  hearts  or 
the  genius  of  the  French  people,  and  after  a.  brief 
period  again  revived.  Henry  the  fourth  died  by  the 
hand  of  an  assassin,  but  the  Roman  and  the  Protest 
ant  faith  alike  survived.  Many  more  rulers  and  prime 
ministers  have  died  by  assassination.  But  nations  are 
not  subject  to  the  dagger  of  an  assassin,  and  the  life 
of  a  nation  is  not  concentrated  into  the  life  of  an 
individual.  The  vitality  of  a  nation,  we  have  learned, 
is  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  ;  in  their  private  morals, 
in  their  schools  for  popular  education,  in  their 
domestic  virtues,  in  the  religion  which  they  believe 
in,  in  the  liberty  they  love.  The  progress  of  our  own 
nation  has  not  been  retarded  in  its  essential  elements, 
by  the  conspiracy  that  aimed  originally  at  its  life,  and 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  73 

the  war  by  which  it  has  striven  to  maintain  its  exist 
ence  ;  no  more  can  it  be,  by  the  individual  hand  that 
again  sought  its  destruction  by  taking  away  the  life  of 
its  chosen,  its  trusted  and  beloved  ruler. 

The  lives  of  great  men  work  more  after  death  than 
during  life.  "  Being  dead,  he  yet  speaketh  "  is  true 
of  all.  The  shadows  of  great  men  reach  far  down  the 
ages ;  or  rather,  the  light  with  which  they  shine,  and 
the  inspiration  which  their  genius  and  virtues  trans 
mit,  are  found  increasing  often  as  the  ages  pass. 
The  moral  character,  the  elemental  ideas  of  Caesar, 
Alexander  and  Napoleon,  are  a  living  power  in  the 
world  at  the  present  day.  Jesus  was  more  felt  at 
Jerusalem,  and  through  the  world,  when  the  disciples 
and  the  people  could  no  longer  look  upon  his  outward 
form,  and  fear  and  malice  had  succeeded  in  silencing 
his  outward  utterance.  Whether  it  be  through  '  natu- 

O 

ral '  causes,  so  understood,  or  i  supernatural '  means, 
men  live  in  their  influence  after  death  with  more  effi 
ciency  for  the  world,  than  during  the  continuance  of 
their  mortal  life.  The  great  and  good  are  never 
nearer  in  spiritual  power,  than  when  they  seem  finally 
to  have  gone  away  from  us.  They  impress -the  world 
more  deeply  by  their  wisdom  ;  their  counsels  are  bet 
ter  heeded ;  their  virtues  are  more  admired  and  more 
carefully  and  successfully  imitated.  The  spirit  that 
God  has  once  sent  into  the  world,  he  seems  never  to 
take  away  from  it.  The  mortal  dies  and  is  seen  no 

more  ;    the  family  and  the  world  are  never,  in  the 
10 


74  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

workings  of  Divine  providence,  bereaved  of  the  good 
God  lias  once  bestowed  upon  them.  It  multiplies 
with  every  year  ;  succeeding  ages  only  find  it  greater 
still. 

And  while  we  are  now  overcome  with  the  most 
poignant  grief  in  the  sudden  loss  which  we  have  sus 
tained,  it  seems  to  be  the  general  conviction,  that 
Mr.  Lincoln's  work  on  earth  was  done.  The  war, 
immense  as  it  was,  is  finished.  The  nation  is  essen 
tially  at  peace.  If  we  undertake  to  review  the  great 
ness  of  the  work  he  has  accomplished,  we  cannot 
measure  it.  We  can  only  compare  it  with  great 
religious  movements,  with  the  Reformation,  or  with 
the  establishment  of  Christianity  itself.  This  new 
organization-  of  liberty  deserves  to  be  set  side  by  side 
with  no  less  important  events  in  the  progress  of  hu 
manity.  Which  is  greater,  the  present,  or  the  first 
American  Revolution,  some  might  hesitate  to  decide. 
By  the  proclamation  of  freedom,  Mr.  Lincoln  opened 
one  half  of  our  land  to  the  people,  to  liberal  institu 
tions,  to  the  new  civilization,  and  to  the  possibilities 
of  advancing  religion,  as  well  as  gave  liberty  to  slaves. 

His  work  can  never  be  undone.  The  nation  is  safe. 
Possibly  it  is  safer  than  in  the  continuance  of  his  life. 
He  was  merciful,  and  the  people  treasure  up  no 
revenge.  He  was  gentle;  he  was  lenient ;  was  he 
weak  in  tenderness  ?  was  he  too  accessible  to  personal 
sympathies  ?  was  personal  friendship,  or  the  power  of 
distinguished  names  too  great  in  influence  over  him  ? 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  75 

Possibly,  the  interests  of  the  nation  may  be  safer  in 
the  hands  of  a  less  forgiving  man.  Possibly  we  need 
the  sternness  of  another  mind,  which  will  less  readily 
believe  in  the  possibility  of  conciliating  the  perjured 
and  malignant,  a  man  who  will  entertain  a  juster  fear 
of  the  demoniacal  spirit  which  the  rebel  leaders*have 
shown,  and  will  decide,  and  help  us  to  decide,  that, 
while  we  would  not  hurt  a  hair  of  the  head  of  one  of 
them,  we  yet  can  never  allow  them  to  live  in  the  same 
land  with  us,  nor,  while  necessarily  remaining,  even 
step  on  to  its  soil  except  under  military  guard.  WQ 
have  now  seen  the  spirit  of  the  slaveholder  in  this  last 
outbreak  of  malignity  and  wickedness  ;  it  is  well  for 
us  to  know  the  infinitely  broad  distinction  between 
liberty  and  slavery,  and  provide  for  an  eternal  separa 
tion  between  them. 

Had  I  chosen  a  text,  as  the  introduction  of  my  dis 
course,  I  should  have  reminded  you  how,  like  Moses, 
our  president  has  seen  the  promised  land,  and  over 
looked  it  far  and  wide,  the  inheritance  of  the  people, 
and  has  not  himself  been  permitted  to  enter  into  en 
joyment  of  it.  I  should  have  told  you  how,  like  the 
aged  Simeon,  he  might  say,  Lord,  now  lettest  thou 
thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen 
thy  salvation" — or  how,  also,  like  the  dying  Stephen, 
he  would  have  said,  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge."  But  texts  of  written  record  are  unnecessary: 
Providence  speaks  directly  to  our  hearts. 

And  let  us  not  suffer  this  season  of  our  deep  and 


76  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

agonized  feeling  to  pass  without  impressing  upon  our 
hearts  its  appropriate  lessons,  and  taking  to  ourselves 
most  earnest  resolutions.  The  great  necessity  is,  that 
we  should  consecrate  ourselves  with  more  thorough- 

o 

ness  to  humanity.  The  grief  of  the  hour  is  wide- 
extended  ;  millions  feel  it.  We  feel  more  deeply  than 
ever,  how  much  our  own  personal  interests  are  compli 
cated  with  those  of  all  the  world  beside.  In  the  face 
of  every  man  we  see  a  brother.  The  tears  which 
others  shed,  are  for  our  loss  as  well  as  theirs.  And 
the  affliction  which  has  now  come  upon  us  all  alike, 
inspires  us  to  feel  more  truly  the  private  sorrows  of 
those,  who,  in  the  events  of  the  war,  have  consecrated 
to  their  country  in  death  the  beloved  members  of  their 
own  households.  It  teaches  us  more  clearly  the 
liability  of  man  to  suffer  ;  and  calls  us  to  survey  with 
more  lively  sympathy  the  sorrows  of  the  race.  And 
long  as  the  dispensation  of  sorrow  shall  be  an  ordi 
nance  of  God's  wise  and  merciful  government,  so  long- 
must  our  hearts  take  to  themselves  the  lesson  of  sym 
pathy  with  man. 

Especially,  in  this  connection,  must  we  impress  our 
hearts  with  a  sense  of  justice  to  the  colored  race.  For 
their  sakes,  on  account  of  the  position  which  wre,  as 
a  nation,  have  assumed  and  held  in  regard  to  them, 
we  have  passed  through  the  terrors  of  our  long-con 
tinued  war,  as  we  passed  for  the  same  reason  through 
long-continued  anxieties  and  miseries  that  preceded 
it.  "We  have  suffered,  terribly  suffered,  for  the  course 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  77 

which  we  have  pursued.  Do  we  now  intend  justice? 
Do  we  longer  think  to  save  and  advance  our  national 
welfare  by  despising  and  oppressing,  or  by  neglecting 
the  colored  race  ?  Have  we  still  no  faith  in  justice  ? 
shall  we  still  think,  by  some  indirections,  to  save  our 
selves,  while  we  hide  from  the  commandments  of 
God  ?  Have  not  the  judgments  of  the  Almighty  been 
severe,  and  plain  ?  Let  us  do  our  duties  ;  let  us  with 
all  our  hearts  and  with  all  faithfulness  give  liberty  and 
equality  to  the  oppressed,  and  not  tempt  judgments 
more  bitter,  more  dreadful  than  those  which  we  sus 
tain. 

Let  us  purify  our  politics.  "We  cannot  but  call  to 
mind,  in  the  hour  of  national  anguish,  how  much  of 
baseness  and  iniquity  have  characterised  the  intrigues 
of  politicians ;  on  what  worldliness,  what  earthly  ex 
pediency,  what  distrust  and  denial  of  everlasting  prin 
ciples  of  right  great  parties  have  based  themselves,  in 
their  attempts  to  attain  the  government  of  the  nation. 
We  do  no  good  with  base  men.  We  have  no  need  of 
them.  They  mean  no  good  to  us.  We  follow  them 
but  to  destruction.  We  corrupt  the  vital  sources  of 
morality  in  our  own  hearts,  and  the  sources  of  national 
life,  while  we  yield  to  their  influence  and  follow  the 
guidance  of  their  principles. 

Lastly.  ISTow,  in  the  hour,  when  wickedness  has 
wrought  so  signal  a  triumph,  has  laid  the  hope  of  the 
nation  low,  and  filled  the  eyes  and  hearts  of  all  with 
tears  and  anguish,  —  let  us  consider  the  final  truth, — 


78  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

that  all  sin  is  of  the  same  character.  Whatsoever  its 
manifestations,  howsoever  dreadful  its  violence  or 
light  its  appearance,  in  elementary  principle  it  is  all 
the  same.  To  justify  a  degree  of  it  in  our  own  hearts, 
is  to  justify  the  worst  degree  of  it  in  another's.  To 
demand  impunity  for  any  sin  of  our  own,  whatsoever 
the  apparent  reason  for  indulgence  of  it,  is  to  give 
leave  for  others  to  riot  in  demoniacal  wickedness. 
We  see  in  this  last  enormity  of  maliciousness, 
which  has  laid  low  a  grea.t  beloved  man,  the  horrible 
character,  not  alone  of  one  man's  wickedness,  but  of 
sin  itself.  In  every  good  man's  life,  in  the  life  and 
temper  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  see  the  beauty  and  loveli 
ness  of  that  principle  which  is  the  opposite  of  sin. 
Which  do  we  choose?  Whose  side,  in  the  universe,  do 
we  assume  ?  Now,  while  our  hearts  are  tenderly 
affected,  deeply  impressed,  let  us  renew  our  vows  of 
consecration  to  the  spirit  of  holiness  and  good  ;  let  us 
choose  the  right,  the  absolute,  eternal  right ;  let  us 
labor  with  the  good  and  God,  for  its  progress  and  pre 
valence  over  all  the  world.* 

OTHER  SERVICES. 

Extemporaneous  addresses  or  remarks  having 
reference  to  the  sad  event,  were  made  from  almost 
every  other  pulpit  in  the  city.  Full  reports  of  these 
have  not  been  preserved,  but  an  abstract  of  some  of 
them  follows. 

*  This  sermon  was  preached  from  a  brief,  and  has  been  written 
out  since  it  was  delivered. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  79 

At  the  First  Baptist  Church,  the  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  George  C.  Baldwin  read  the  eighty-ninth  psalm, 
and  selected  for  his  text  the  first  fifteen  verses  of  the 
psalm,  in  one  of  which  occurs  the  words,  "  The  north 
and  the  south  thou  hast  created  them."  He  spoke  of 
the  present  affliction  as  viewed  by  the  light  of  holy 
writ  and  especially  of  the  psalm  he  had  read,  wherein 
the  Almighty  is  praised  as  the  keeper  of  His  cove 
nants  with  His  people,  and  lauded  for  the  manifesta 
tions  of  His  wonderful  power.  He  pictured  the 
effects  of  rebellion  and  slavery,  paid  a  faithful  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  the  late  President,  and  exhorted 
all,  especially  the  young,  to  imitate  his  example  in 
their  character  and  life.  Here,  as  in  other  churches, 
the  scene  was  impressive,  and  sobs  of  emotion  were 
often  audible  among  the  congregation. 

The  pastor  of  the  North  Baptist  Church,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  C.  P.  Sheldon,  read  for  the  morning  lesson,  a  por 
tion  of  the  third  chapter  of  the  second  book  of 
Samuel,  in  which  the  death  of  Abner  is  narrated,  and; 
in  which  David  laments  the  loss  of  his  friend  in  these 
words,  "Thy  hands  were  not  bound,  nor  thy  feet  put 
into  fetters  :  as  a  man  falleth  before  wicked  men,  sa 
fellest  thou."  The  speaker  referred  to  some  of  the 
proofs  of  the  barbarism  of  slavery,  noting  especially 
the  assault  on  Sumner,  the  firing  on  the  troops  of 
Massachusetts  in  Baltimore,  and  finally  the  tragedy 
just  enacted.  He  expressed  his  thankfulness  for  the 
constitutional  provision  determining  at  once  his  sue- 


80  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

cessor  in  case  of  a  President's  death,  and  declared  his 
joy  that  the  nation  still  lives.  The  sermon  of  the 
evening  related  to  the  successful  progress  of  the  war 
and  the  recent  victories  of  the  union  armies,  and  in 
these  favors  the  preacher  bade  his  people  recognize 
the  work  wrought  by  the  hand  of  God  for  this  nation. 

Respecting  the  service  at  Christ  Church,  the  rector, 
the  Rev.  J.  N".  Mnlford,  in  a  note  says : 

"As  we  met  on  last  Easter  Sunday  for  morning 
prayer,  our  hearts  were  sad  with  the  nation's  great 
affliction. 

"  Around  that  day  associations  of  former  years  cast 
a  feeling  of  holy  joy,  and  the  recollection  of  the 
great  fact  in  Christian  history  which  we  were  called 
to  celebrate  would  have  made  it  a  day  of  gladness. 
But  every  heart  was  sick  and  suffering  with  a  wound 
yet  fresh  and  bleeding.  Our  great  and  good  Presi 
dent  lay  dead  —  slain  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 
Though  sad,  we  did  not  forget  that  light  from  the 
tomb  of  Christ  shed  cheerful  rays  even  into  the  dark 
ness  caused  by  this  event :  for  there  is  no  page  of 
human  sorrow  that  is  not  brightened  by  the  power  of 
His  resurrection.  Therefore,  we  joined  heartily  in 
the  services  of  the  day,  and  sang  our  Easter  chants 
with  thankful,  though  subdued  and  chastened  feeling. 

"In  the  extempore  address,  I  remember  having  re 
marked  that  this  terrible  shock  which  caused  our 
nation  to  pause  in  the  midst  of  its  triumphal  march, 
would  do  ffood  if  it  drew  us  out  of  our  self  confidence 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  81 

to  put  our  trust  more  in  God ;  that  we  were  thinking 
too  much  of  our  own  strength  and  wisdom  in  the  toil 
and  success  of  war ;  that  while  we  could  not  see  the 
meaning  of  this  dark  providence  we  were  compelled 
to  stand  still  and  have  faith  in  God ;  that  two  things 
were  as  clear  as  ever,  viz  :  —  God  was  still  the  ruler 
of  nations — And  our  faith  in  Him  should  be  as  strong 
as  when  we  were  in  the  flush  of  prosperity ;  that 
while  standing  now  in  the  dawn  of  peace  by  the  body 
of  our  fallen  leader,  we  appreciated  as  not  even  in  the 
perplexities  of  war,  the  splendour  of  that  calm  judg 
ment  and  determined  will,  that,  under  God,  led  us 
safely  through  the  manifold  dangers  of  the  great 
rebellion ;  and  that  to-day,  in  the  sudden  and  terrible 
death  of  President  Lincoln,  the  people  were  crushed 
with  a  sense  of  sorrow  and  helplessness,  as  if  the  angel 
that  cursed  Egypt  had  slain  the  first  born  of  every 
family  in  this  land." 

The  Easter  sermon  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  I.  Tucker,  at 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  was  interspersed  with 
allusions  to  the  calamity  the  nation  had  sustained.  He 
enforced  the  duty  of  a  stronger  exercise  of  religious 
principle,  to  enable  all  men  and  especially  Christian 
men,  to  rise  above  the  gloom  of  the  occasion. 

At  the  State  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Rev.  Dr.  E.  Wentworth  stated,  that  he  had  felt  im 
pelled,  under  an  overwhelming  sense  of  the  awfulness 
of  the  occasion,  to  lay  aside  his  previously  prepared 

discourse,  and  devote  his  thoughts  to  the  one  great 

11 


82  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

idea  that  absorbed  the  attention  of  the  people — the 
sudden  and  tragical  death  of  their  Chief  Magistrate. 
He  selected  as  his  text  the  eighth  verse  of  the  seventh 
chapter  of  Micah :  —  "Rejoice  not  against  me,  0  mine 
enemy :  when  I  fall,  I  shall  arise;  when  I  sit  in  darkness, 
the  Lord  shall  be  a  light  unto  me." 

He  commented  upon  the  facts  that  it  was  natural  to 
rejoice  in  the  calamities  of  an  enemy  and  that  foreign 
nations  had  rejoiced  in  our  calamities,  and  expressed 
the  belief  that  men  would  be  found  who  would  even 
rejoice  in  this  last  calamity  that  carries  us  back  to  the 
crimes  of  the  dark  ages.  He  noticed  our  successive 
falls  as  a  nation,  and  our  subsequent  recoveries. 
"Truth  and  righteousness,"  said  the  speaker,  "are 
often  crushed,  but  they  rise  again.  Abraham  Lincoln 
falls,  but  in  falling  is  exalted  to  the  honors  of  mar 
tyrdom.  No  name  in  American  history,  not  even 
"Washington's,  will  occupy  a  more  conspicuous  place 
than  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  His  work  is  done. 
Others  will  finish  what  he  had  so  nobly  commenced 
and  brought  so  nearly  to  a  glorious  termination. 
We  sit  in  darkness  to  day,  but  God  is  our  light.  He 
teaches  us  in  this  event,  that  he  will  not  allow  us  to 
trust  in  an  arm  of  flesh."  The  speaker  in  concluding, 
recited  the  forty-sixth  psalm,  beginning  "  God  is  our 
refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble"  In 
the  evening  he  delivered  the  same  sermon  in  the 
North  Second  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  Rev.  E.  E.  Meredith,  pastor  of  the  North  Troy 


LINCOLN  MEM01UAL.  83 

Methodist  Episcopal  Cliureh,  preached  to  a  crowded 
audience  in  the  evening,  selecting  as  the  basis  of  his 
sermon  the  fifty-third  verse  of  the  twenty-second  chap 
ter  of  St.  Luke's  gospel:  "But  this  is  your  hour,  and 
the  power  of  darkness."  He  set  before  his  auditors 
their  duty  in  this  crisis  of  the  nation,  and  drew  infer 
ences  from  the  occurences  of  the  time  both  appropriate 
and  impressive. 

The  Rev.  Marvin  E.  Vincent,  at  the  First  Presbyte 
rian  Church,  introduced  in  a  previously  prepared 
sermon  on  the  "Perversion  of  human  judgment," 
some  appropriate  allusions  to  the  mournful  occasion, 
citing  the  foul  murder  of  the  President  as  the  crown 
ing  illustration  of  his  theme.  Looking  beyond  the 
mere  tool  who  fired  the  weapon,  to  the  spirit  that 
prompted  the  deed,  he  attributed  the  deed  entirely 
to  slavery. 

At  the  Park  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Rev.  Alex 
ander  Dickson  preached  in  the  morning  from  the 
twelfth  verse  of  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  gospel 
of  St.  Matthew,  "And  his  disciples  came,  and  took  up  the 
body,  and  buried  it,  and  went  and  told  Jesus."  In  the 
evening,  his  discourse  was  based  on  these  words,  "For 
he  doth  not  afflict  willingly  nor  grieve  the  children  of  men  " 
recorded  in  the  thirty-third  verse  of  the  third  chapter 
of  Lamentations. 

In  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  of  the  city,  the  im 
pression  produced  by  the  addresses  of  the  respective 
clergymen,  served  to  temper  the  jubilant  character  of 
the  Easter  exercises. 


g4  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

At  St.  Mary's  Church  a  very  large  congregation 
assembled  at  high  mass.  After  the  singing  of  the 
gospel,  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Peter  Havermans,  ascended 
the  pulpit,  and  addressed  the  audience  at  considerable 
length  and  with  much  earnestness,  respecting  the 
public  calamity  that  had  befallen  the  country.  He 
stated  that  he  could  not  imagine  any  event  that  was 
more  to  be  regretted  at  this  time,  than  the  death  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  that  he  looked  upon  his  assas 
sination,  as  one  of  the  greatest  crimes  that  could  be 
committed  ;  that  he  had  no  words  at  his  command  ade- 
puately  to  give  expression  to  his  feelings.  "  Every  one  " 
said  the  speaker,  uis  horror-stricken  at  the  tragic  deed 
which  has  taken  place  at  the  capital  of  the  nation. 
The  wickedness  of  the  act  is  heightened  by  every 
aggravating  circumstance  that  can  surround  crime. 
The  murder  was  committed  on  Good  Friday,  at  a 
public  entertainment,  given  partly  as  a  compliment  to 
the  unsuspecting  victim,  at  the  moment  that  the  re 
bellion  had  been  crushed,  and  at  a  time  when  the 
magnanimity  and  goodness  of  the  President  had 
begun  to  be  seen  and  was  foreshadowing,  as  far  as 
tlie  public  interest  would  permit,  a  lenient  disposition 
toward  his  rebellious  brethren  of  the  south. 

"  The  President's  popularity  had  become  so  great 
during  the  critical  time  in  which  he  had  so  wisely  and 
humanely  carried  on  the  war,  that  he  had  been  almost 
unanimously  reelected,  and  had  now  succeeded  in 
bringing  the  war  to  a  close,  in  a  way  that  challenged 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  85 

the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  promised  to  this 
country  a  future  and  a  destiny  exalted  and  enduring*. 
He  had  consequently  gained  the  confidence  of  all 
parties.  His  political  enemies  had  become  his  friends 
and  admirers,  and  the  powers  of  Europe  that  had 
been  jealous  of  us  and  had  indirectly,  at  least,  given 
'  aid  and  comfort'  to  the  south,  had  found,  contrary  to 
their  expectations,  that  the  American  people  were 
able  to  manage  their  own  affairs,  settle  their  own 
troubles,  and  maintain  their  own  government. 

"At  this  moment  it  is,  that  a  foul  plot  is  formed  by 
cowardly  assassins,  to  blight,  if  it  were  possible,  the 
fair  hopes  of  the  people,  cripple  and  upset  the  govern 
ment,  and  destroy  the  very  life  and  existence  of  the 
nation,  by  murdering  the  President,  Vice  President 
and  Secretary  of  state. 

"The  conspirators  hoped,  at  the  very  least,  to  clog 
the  wheels  of  government  and  thus  produce  anarchy 
and  confusion,  and  to  take  revenge  for  the  failure  of 
the  rebellion  not  only  by  the  destruction  of  the  heads 
of  the  several  departments  of  state  to  whom  the  busi 
ness  of  the  nation  is  confided,  but  by  inciting  internal 
commotions  throughout  the  entire  community.  This 
fiendish  plot  has  succeeded  only  in  part,  and  the  fear 
ful  result  is  the  monstrous  crime  which  has  astounded 
us.  If  then  it  was  ever  necessary,  it  is  now,  that  we 
should  send  up  our  supplications  to  heaven,  and  pray 
for  the  dear  country  in  which  our  lot  is  cast." 

In  the  course  of  his  address,  the  speaker  alluded  to 


86  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  significant  facts  that  the  union  army  entered 
Richmond  on  Palm  Sunday,  and  that  the  President 
was  assassinated  on  Good  Friday,  and  concluded  by 
announcing  a  service  in  the  church,  at  the  hour  of 
the  President's  funeral,  on  the  "Wednesday  following. 

The  Rev.  James  Keveny,  the  pastor  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  during  the  services  of  the  day,  spoke  with 
deep  feeling  concerning  the  sad  event,  and  denounced 
the  perpetrators  and  abettors  of  the  horrid  crime  in 
language  both  stern  and  affecting. 

At  St.  Joseph's  Church,  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Aug. 
J.  Thebaud,  said  in  substance,  that  not  only  had  a 
great  crime  been  committed  but  an  awful  calamity 
also,  had  befallen  the  country,  in  the  cruel  and  cold 
blooded  murder  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
American  nation.  Until  the  sad  news  of  the  Presi 
dent's  death  was  announced,  the  hearts  of  all  had 
been  filled  with  joyous  expectations  of  returning 
peace,  but  by  the  intelligence  of  the  lamentable  event, 
the  people's  fondest  hopes  were  blasted,  and  God 
alone  could  foresee  the  consequences  of  the  foul  deed 
which  deprived  the  country  of  its  worthy  head.  He 
earnestly '  exhorted  the  people  to  pray  God  to  avert 
from  the  nation  the  misfortunes  that  appeared  to 
threaten  it,  and  to  turn  everything  to  its  safety  and  to 
the  people's  welfare. 

In  the  discourse  of  the  Rev.  James  M.  Pullman, 
pastor  of  the  Universalist  Church,  the  speaker  paid 
a  touching  tribute  to  the  character  of  the  late  Presi- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  87 

dent,  and  educed  such  solemn  lessons  from  his  cruel 
death,  as  were  consonant  with  the  occasion. 

Many  of  the  churches  were  draped  with  emblems 
of  mourning.  In  some,  these  manifestations  of 
grief  were  confined  to  the  pulpit,  but  in  others,  sable 
trappings  and  appropriate  mourning  devices  appeared 
at  all  prominent  points.  The  booming  of  cannon 
from  the  hill  east  of  the  city  at  half-hour  intervals, 
suggested  a  striking  yet  mournful  contrast  to  the 
solemn  stillness  that  pervaded  the  streets.  The  black 
drapery,  waving  011  the  fronts  of  public  buildings  and 
shops  and  dwellings,  together  with  the  partially 
clouded  sky,  added  to  the  gloom  of  the  day. 


MONDAY,  APRIL  17TH,  1865. 

As  soon  as  the  time  for  the  obsequies  of  the  late 
President,  at  Washington,  had  been  determined, 
Andrew  Johnson,  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
directed  the  publication  of  the  following 

ANNOUNCEMENT. 

To  the  People  of  the  United  States: 

The  undersigned  is  directed  to  announce,  that  the 
funeral  ceremonies  of  the  lamented  Chief  Magistrate 
will  take  place  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  in  this  city, 
at  twelve  o'clock,  noon,  on  Wednesday,  the  nine 
teenth  instant. 


88  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

The  various  religious  denominations  throughout 
the  country  are  invited  to  meet  in  their  respective 
places  of  worship  at  that  hour,  for  the  purpose  of  sol 
emnizing  the  occasion  with  appropriate  ceremonies. 

(Signed) 

W.  HUNTER, 

Acting  Secretary  of  State. 
Department  of  State,  Washington,  April  Ylili,  1865. 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

BY   A.    G.    JOHNSON. 

A  great  calamity  has  befallen  the  nation.  The 
death  of  Mr.  Lincoln  will  drape  the  land  in  mourning, 
will  fill  all  the  people  with  profound  sorrow,  and  cause 
everywhere  fearful  forebodings  for  the  future.  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  taken  strong  hold  of  the  affections  of  the 
people.  !N"o  man  since  Washington,  had  inspired 
them  with  such  a  feeling  of  attachment  and  confi 
dence.  It  was  not  the  feeling  of  awe  and  veneration 
with  which  Washington  was  regarded.  It  was  not 
the  fierce  and  passionate  admiration  that  Jackson 
inspired.  It  was  love  and  respect  rather  than  awe 
and  admiration.  He  had  none  of  the  shining  qualities 
of  a  popular  leader.  He  was  neither  handsome  in 
person,  nor  graceful  in  manners,  nor  brilliant  in  con 
versation,  nor  eloquent  in  speech.  But  his  temper 
was  amiable,  his  manners  were  genial  and  gracious, 
his  talk  was  pleasant  and  sensible,  arid  his  speeches 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  89 

were  unequalled  for  clearness  of  statement  and  logical 
argument.  He  was  slow  in  forming  opinions,  and 
arriving  at  conclusions,  but  sound  in  judgment,  and 
firm  in  execution.  He  was  a  safe  counsellor,  a  sure 
guide,  a  trusty  and  prudent  ruler.  What  labors  he 
has  had  to  perform !  What  difficulties  to  meet  and 
overcome !  What  cares  and  perplexities  have  sur 
rounded  him  on  every  side!  And  how  bravely, 
cheerfully  and  hopefully  he  has  borne  himself  through 
all  his  labors  and  trials  ! 

His  election  was  made  the  pretence  and  occasion  of 
a  rebellion  threatening  to  destroy  the  life  of  the  na 
tion.  He  has  struggled  to  quell  that  rebellion  and 
save  his  country,  and  in  the  hour  of  his  triumph  and 
the  nation's  salvation,  he  is  stricken  by  the  pistol  shot 
of  an  assassin.  It  is  sad  to  reflect  that  the  blow 
should  have  been  struck,  and  the  time  should  have 
been  chosen  for  it,  when  the  peculiar  qualities  of 
character  for  which  he  was  distinguished,  were  most 
needed.  The  people  of  the  north  would  havejieeded 
his  advice,  and  followed  his  counsels.  The  people  of 
the  south  would  have  been  won  by  his  justice  and 
mercy.  Of  all  men  in  public  life,  he  was  the  least 
under  the  influence  of  bad  passions.  He  would  not 
be  moved  by  fear,  love,  hate  or  revenge,  to  swerve 
from  the  path  of  duty.  In  this  time  of  transition 
from  war  to  peace,  from  slavery  to  freedom,  from 
rebellion  to  submission,  the  country  had  everything  to 
hope  from  his  moderation,  his  wisdom,  his  mild  and 
12 


90  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

merciful  disposition,  his  conciliatory  spirit,  his  for 
bearing  temper,  his  readiness  to  forgive.  It  did  seem 
as  if  the  country  needed  just  such  a  man,  with  gentle 
ness  so  mingled  with  firmness,  with  shrewdness  so 
blended  with  simplicity,  with  justice  so  tempered  by 
mercy,  and  with  a  goodness  of  heart,  never  ruffled  by 
opposition,  never  soured  by  disappointment,  and 
never  embittered  by  hate.  He  was  ever  ready  to  love 
those  that  hated  him,  and  to  do  good  to  those  that 
despitefully  entreated  him. 

The  good  man  is  dead,  but  the  country  he  has 
saved  will  be  the  monument  of  his  fame.  The  people 
will  embalm  his  memory  in  their  hearts.  The  Presi 
dent  is  dead,  but  the  nation  lives. —  Troy  Daily  Whig. 


THE  NATIONAL  BEBEAVEMENT. 

BY   W.  E.  KISSELBTJRGH. 

The  terror  with  which  the  intelligence  of  the  assas 
sination  of  the  President  was  received,  and  the 
anguish  caused  by  his  death  throughout  the  North, 
are  in  no  wise  abated  by  the  few  hours  which  have 
elapsed  since  the  unwelcome  tidings  brought  their 
grief  to  every  household.  But  time  enables  us  more 
calmly  to  review  the  situation,  and  the  effect  upon  the 
nation's  destiny.  Greatly  as  we  mourn  our  late 
beloved  President,  ripe  as  he  was  in  the  experience 
of  the  past,  and  successfully  as  he  has  conduct  d  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  91 

nation  through  four  years  of  dark  and  desperate 
peril, —  and  the  last  man  in  the  land,  as  it  would 
appear,  we  could  afford  to  loose;  — we  begin  to  feel 
that  God's  good  Providence  has  directed  the  blow, 
and  that  he  who  doeth  all  things  well,  had  some  great 
and  beneficial  purpose  to  subserve  in  the  agonizing  be 
reavement  which  has  fallen  upon  His  people.  None 
of  us  now  doubt  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  God's 
chosen  instrument  to  lead  the  nation  through  the 
tribulation  of  the  past.  So  should  we  feel  that  having 
fulfilled  the  mission  he  was  sent  to  perform  —  living 
long  enough  to  see  the  bow  of  hope  span  the  national 
horizon,  and  long  enough  to  disarm  malice  and  hate 
and  envy  in  the  minds  and  breasts  of  all — he  has 
been  called  away  to  an  infinitely  better  reward  and  a 
higher  sphere  of  glory.  The  maligned,  the  ridiculed, 
the  insulted  man  —  hated  as  no  man  ever  was  hated  — 
died  beloved  as  no  man  since  Washington  ever  was 
loved. 

We  must  take  courage  from  the  light  of  the  past. 
The  hand  that  struck  us  down  will  raise  us  up  again. 
"We  must  gather  nearer  to  the  altar  of  our  country 
than  ever  before,  and  more  firmly  basing  the  principles 
of  our  government  upon  the  everlasting  truths  of 
Justice  and  Liberty,  make  it  what  Abraham  Lincoln 
sought  to  make  it,  the  purest,  freest,  best  on  earth. 
As  he  fell  a  martyr  to  liberty,  we  must  —  not  in  a 
spirit  of  blood-thirstiness  or  revenge  —  demand  an 
atonement  at  the  hands  of  those  men  who  struck  him 


92  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

down  and  who  have  labored  to  strike  down  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  country.  We  must  not  forget  that 
treason  has  done  this  work,  and  in  dealing  with  it,  no 
false  considerations  for  the  wounded  honor,  the 
fictitious  pride  of  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion,  must 
deter  us  from  following  the  principles  of  everlasting 
justice. —  Troy  Daily  Times. 


THE  DEATH  or  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

BY  MRS.  E.  VAN  SANTVOORD. 

A  Nation's  mighty  heart 

Throbs  with  a  voiceless  woe ; 
The  skies  in  pity  weep, 

The  winds  are  sobbing  low. 
The  gentle  stars  have  veiled  their  light, 
And  deepening  gloom  enshrouds  the  night. 

The  patriot  heart  is  stilled  — 

Stilled  by  a  murderer's  hand ! 
Strong  men  are  bowed  in  grief, 
And  mourning  fills  the  land. 
And  countless  eyes  are  dimmed  with  tears, 
Sad  hearts  oppressed  with  anxious  fears. 

A  few  brief  days  agone 

Bells  rang  with  merry  peal  ] 
And  brightening  omens  told 

Our  country's  future  weal; 
Flags  floated  on  the  sun-lit  air, 
The  night  was  o'er  of  our  despair. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL,  93 

How  changed  the  joyous  scene  ! 

Now  draped  in  midnight  gloom 
The  stars  and  stripes  Jie  loved :  — 
Oh,  plant  them  o'er  his  tomb ; 
Thus  may  the  sacred  emblem  keep 
Sweet  vigil  o'er  his  peaceful  sleep. 

That  warm  and  kindly  heart, 
It  knew  no  bitter  thought ; 
With  hopeful  faith  and  love, 

Its  deeds  of  mercy  wrought  ] 
It  ne'er  betrayed  our  fervent  trust. 
Our  Country  guards  the  hallowed  dust ! 

Troy  Daily  Times. 
April  15,  1865. 


COMMON  COUNCIL  PROCEEDINGS. 

SPECIAL  MEETING. 

Monday  Evening,  April  17, 1865. 

Members  Present — Hon.  URI  GILBERT,  Mayor ;  Hori. 
JOHN  MORAN,  Recorder,  and  Aldermen  Cox,  FALES, 
FITZGERALD,  FLEMING,  HAY,  HISLOP,  HARRITY,  KEMP, 
McMANus,  MURPHY,  MORRIS,  NORTON,  PRENTICE, 
SMART,  STANTON,  STARBUCK,  SEARS,  STANNARD. 

On  motion  of  Alderman  Kemp,  the  customary  rou 
tine  of  business  was  dispensed  with..  His  Honor  the 
Mayor  stated  the  object  of  the  meeting  as  follows : 

"  The  sudden  and  awful  death  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  by  the  hand  of  a  midnight  assassin, 
has  cast  a  gloom  over  the  nation,  clothed  every  house 


94  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

in  mourning,  and  filled  the  hearts  of  the  people  with 
grief  which  words  cannot  adequately  describe.  That 
we  may  in  our  corporate  capacity,  and  in  behalf  of  the 
citizens  of  Troy,  give  such  public  expression  to  the 
deep  feeling  of  sadness  called  forth  by  this  mournful 
event,  which  has  come  upon  us  at  a  time  when  all  hearts 
were  rejoicing  at  the  success  of  our  arms,  and  the 
prospect  of  a  speedy  peace  to  the  nation,  we  have  as 
sembled  here  this  evening  to  take  such  action  as  be 
comes  a  bereaved  people  under  such  a  sad  calamity. 
Gentlemen,  the  matter  is  in  your  hands,  and  I  am 
confident  whatever  you  propose  will  be  worthy  the 
city  and  befitting  the  occasion." 

Alderman  Kemp  offered  the  following  resolutions  : 
At  a  time  when  the  heavy  hand  of  national  sorrow 
has  been  laid  upon  us  like  a  weary  burthen,  and  the 
mourning  that  is  in  our  streets  reflects  the  gloom  visi 
ble  in  every  countenance,  the  Common  Council  of  the 
city  of  Troy  deem  it  meet  and  proper  to  give  a  public 
expression  and  an  enduring  record  of  the  grief  so  uni 
versally  felt  by  the  community.  Leaving  it  to  the 
historian  to  record  the  tragic  events  ;  to  men  of  sacred 
calling  to  draw  lessons  of  wisdom  ;  to  the  stricken 
family  to  bow  down,  and  the  entire  people  to  mourn, 
we  desire  to  join  in  the  general  wail  that  is  rising  from 
every  city  and  hamlet  in  the  land  ;  therefore, 

Besolved,  That  while  we  would  not  be  unmoved  at 
the  murder  of  a  citizen,  however  humble,  we  doubly 
shudder  at  the  assassination  of  the  head  of  the  nation ; 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  95 

and  the  cruel  death  of  Abraham  Lin-coin,  President  of 
the  United  States,  will  be  remembered,  through  all 
recorded  time,  as  one  of  the  most  fearful  events  in  the 
world's  annals. 

Resolved,  That  whatever  differences  of  sentiment 
may  have  been  entertained  between  a  portion  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  and  the  lamented  dead, 
they  are  all  buried  at  the  grave  ;  and  in  the  great  de 
parted  we  see  a  man  of  spotless  purity  of  character,  of 
unchallenged  honesty  of  purpose,  of  signal  originality 
of  mind,  a  man  moulded,  as  it  appeared,  to  play  the 
mighty  part  that  he  performed  so  grandly,  a  man  who 
carried  the  nation  through  the  four  years'  fiery  storm 
of  war,  and  fell  when  the  haven  of  peace  was  in  sight. 

Resolved,  That  such  a  calamity  as  this  proves  more 
fully  the  strength  of  our  institutions,  and  illustrates 
the  wisdom  of  the  form  of  government  adopted  by  our 
fathers — institutions  that  survive  the  culmination  of 
any  conspiracy,  however  foul  and  successful  —  a  gov 
ernment  binding  the  hearts  of  the  people  in  links  that 
are  the  more  firmly  riveted  by  every  attempt  to  burst 
them  asunder.  To  a  nation  thus  sustained  by  its  own 
innate  strength,  renewed  allegiance  is  due  after  a 
calamity  such  as  this. 

Resolved,  That  the  citizens  of  Troy  be  requested  to 
participate  in  such  exercises  as  may  be  appointed  for 
Wednesday  next,  when  the  funeral  of  the  late  Presi 
dent  is  to  take  place,  by  closing  their  places. of  busi 
ness,  attending  at  the  regular  houses  of  worship,  and 
in  such  other  manner  as  shall  seem  most  appropriate 
to  prove  the  general  grief.  And  that  a  committee  of 
five,  of  which  his  Honor  the  Mayor  shall  be  chairman, 
be  appointed  to  arrange  such  public  exercises  as  they 


96  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

shall  deem  best,  and  to  suggest  such  other  solemnities 
as  shall  cause  the  day  to  he  fittingly  observed  in  Troy. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  the  Mayor  ap 
pointed  as  the  remainder  of  the  committee,  Recorder 
Moran  and  Aldermen  Kemp,  Starbuck  and  Norton. 

On  motion  of  Alderman  Norton,  Major-General 
John  E.  Wool  was  invited  to  address  the  Board,  and 
did  so  in  words  suited  to  the  solemn  occasion. 

Then,  on  motion,  the  Board  adjourned. 

JAMES  S.  THORN,  Clerk. 

GEN.  WOOL'S  remarks  were  as  follows : 
"  The  intelligence  of  the  death  of  the  honored  Pre 
sident  of  the  United  States  is  so  unexpected,  and  the 
manner  of  that  death  so  astounding  and  atrocious,  as 
almost  to  paralyze  thought  and  speech.  Men  meet 
on  the  streets  with  downcast  look  and  saddened  face 
and  pass  without  a  word.  The  emblems  of  mourning 
that  are  exhibited  everywhere  throughout  the  city, 
the  flag  of  our  country  furled  and  draped  in  black, 
the  suspension  of  business  —  these  bespeak  more  em 
phatically  the  feelings  of  the  people  than  words. 

"The  virtues  and  excellencies,  the  patriotism  and 
conscientiousness,  the  honesty  and  ability  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  are  known  to  you  all,  and  will  be 
remembered  so  long  as  this  nation  shall  last  or  man 
shall  recognize  the  higher  qualities  of  his  race.  Mr. 
Lincoln's  most  fitting  eulogy  finds  expression  in  the 
great  love  of  the  people  of  this  nation. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL,  97 

"It  is  proper  that  honor  should  be  done  to  his  me 
mory  in  this  as  well  as  in  every  city  of  the  land,  and 
not  only  in  them,  but  in  every  town  and  village  and 
hamlet  of  the  Union.  The  acting  secretary  of  state 
has  invited  the  various  religious  denominations 
throughout  the  country,  to  meet  within  their  respect 
ive  places  of  worship  at  the  time  of  the  obsequies  of 
the  President  at  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of  so 
lemnizing  the  occasion  with  appropriate  ceremonies. 
In  response  to  this  announcement,  I  notice  that  the 
Governor  of  Illinois,  in  the  spirit  of  your  proceedings 
this  evening,  has  called  upon  the  people  of  that  state, 
the  home  of  her  martyred  son,  to  respect  the  invitation 
sent  out  from  "Washington.  An  observance  of  the 
day  of  the  funeral  such  as  is  thus  suggested  meets  my 
hearty  approval.  Let  there  be  no  military  display  or 
out  door  pageant,  but  let  the  total  suspension  of  busi 
ness  and  the  solemn  services  of  the  church,  be  our 
expression  of  sorrow  and  mourning  on  the  sad 
occasion." 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Board,  the  committee 
drew  up  the  following  request  which  was  sent  in  the 
form  of  a  note,  to  the  pastors  of  all  the  churches  in 
the  city. 

BEQUEST  OP  THE  COMMITTEE. 

Pursuant  to  resolution  adopted  at  a  special  meeting 

of  the   Common    Council   of  the   city  of  Troy,  the 
13 


08  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

undersigned,  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose, 
respectfully  request  that  the  clergymen  of  the  city 
cooperate  in  their  respective  churches  and  places  of 
worship  on  Wednesday  next,  the  19th  hist.,  at  12 
o'clock,  noon,  in  the  observance  of  such  religious 
services  as  may  be  suitable  to  solemnize  and  com 
memorate  the  obsequies  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  late 
President  of  the  United  States. 
Dated  Troy,  April  17th,  1865. 

URI  GILBERT, 
JOHN  MORAN, 


WILLIAM  KEMP, 
THOMAS  NORTON, 
GEO.  H.  STARBUCK, 


>  Committee. 


RESOLUTIONS  or  RESPECT. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Jewish  citizens  of  this  city, 
•held  at  their  Hall,  April  17th,  1865,  the  following 
preamble  and  resolutions  were  passed : 

Whereas,  His  Excellency  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  died  on  the  morning 
of  the  15th  of  April,  from  wounds  received  at  the 
hands  of  an  assassin  ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  our  beloved  Presi 
dent,  our  whole  country  has  lost  its  best  and  dearest 
friend ;  that  his  life  is  the  brightest  page  of  our 
nation's  sorrows ;  that  we  prayerfully  ask  Him  who 
ruleth  all  the  people  of  the  earth  in  His  providence, 
to  work  out  His  purpose  in  this  appalling  calamity 
that  has  gone  so  near  to  the  hearts  of  the  American 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  99 

people,  and  to  decree  and  hasten  that  end  which  our 
lamented  President  so  nearly  consummated,  and  to 
which  he  died  a  martyr,  namely,  religions  liberty,  and 
the  restoration  and  perpetuation  of  the  American 
union. 

It  was  further  resolved,1  that  the  Anshe  Chesed 
congregation  of  this  city,  in  "Wotkyns's  block,  be  open 
for  religious  service  on  Wednesday,  April  19th,  1865, 
from  10  A.  M.  till  12  o'clock  M. 

A.  KSINSKY,  President. 

B.  LICHTENSTEINE,  Secretary. 


TUESDAY,  APEIL  1STH,   1865. 
ANNOUNCEMENT  BY  THE  MAYOR. 

To  the  Citizens  of  Troy: 

In  accordance  with  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
common  council  of  the  city  of  Troy,  requesting  an 
observance  of  the  day  appointed  for  the  funeral  of  the 
late  President  of  the  United  States,  it  is  especially 
urged  that  a  solemn  and  suitable  commemoration  of  the 
occasion  be  had  in  Troy ;  that  the  bells  be  tolled  from 
half  past  eleven  o'clock  A.  M.,  until  twelve  M.;  that 
services  be  held  in  all  the  city  churches  for  one  hour, 
commencing  at  noon  ;  and  that  all  business  be  sus 
pended  for  the  remainder  of  the  day.  It  is  also 
suggested  that  the  flags  be  placed  at  half-mast,  and 
emblems  of  mourning  be  affixed  to  public  and  private 
buildings.  URI  GILBERT,  Mayor. 

Troy,  April  ISth,  1865. 


100  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 


ORDERS  TO  THE  TENTH  BRIGADE  AND  THE  FORTY 
FOURTH  REGIMENT. 

HEAD  QRS.,  lOTii  BRIG.,  SD  Div.,  N.  Y.  N.  G., ) 
Troy,  April  ISth,  1865.         j 

GENERAL  ORDER  No.  5. 

The  undersigned  has  this  day  received  official  in 
formation  from  the  war  department,  and  also  from 
Maj.  Gen.  John  Tayler  Cooper,  commanding  Third 
division,  !N".  Y.  N.  G.,  announcing  the  death  of  the 
illustrious  Ahraham  Lincoln,  late  President  of  the 
United  States,  that  he  died  at  twenty-two  minutes 
after  seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  the 
15th  day  of  April,  1865,  of  a  mortal  wound  inflicted 
upon  him  by  an  assassin.  "With  profound  sorrow  we 
mourn  his  death  as  a  national  calamity :  and  as  a  mark 
of  respect  to  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  its  armies,  I  do  hereby  order 
and  direct  the  commanding  officer  of  the  several  regi 
ments  comprising  the  Tenth  brigade  N.  Y.  1ST.  G.,  the 
day  following  the  reception  of  this  order,  to  cause  the 
regimental  color  to  be  displayed  at  half-staff,  and  also 
on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  on  their  respective  arsenals 
and  armories,  and  that  said  arsenals  and  armories  will 
be  appropriately  draped  in  mourning  for  thirty  days. 
And  I  do  further  order  that  all  regiments  provided 
with  artillery  and  ammunition  cause  a  gun  to  be  fired 
every  half  hour  between  sunrise  and  sunset.  And  I 
do  further  order  and  direct  that  all  officers  of  the  Tenth 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  101 

brigade  while  on  duty,  will  wear  the  badge  of  mourn 
ing  on  their  left  arm  and  swords,  and  on  the  colors 
and  arms  of  the  commands  and  regiments,  for  the 

period  of  six  months. 

DARIUS  ALLEN, 

BRIG.  GEN.,  Comd'g  Tenth  Brig.,  K  G. 
ASA  "W".  WICKES,  Aid  de  Camp. 

HEAD  QRS.,  24m  REGT.,  N.  Y.  S.  N.  G-.,  \ 
Troy,  N.  7.,  April  ISth,  1865.       j 

GENERAL  ORDER,  No.  10. 

Brigade  order  No.  5,  dated  Headquarters  10th  Brig 
ade,  3d  Division,  K  Y.  N.  G.,  Troy,  April  18, 1865,  is 
hereby  promulgated.  The  commandants  of  the  several 
armories  of  this  command  will  cause  their  armories 
to  be  draped  in  mourning,  in  compliance  with  brigade 
orders,  and  the  colors  to  be  displayed  at  half-staff  to 
morrow,  the  19th  day  of  April. 

Capt.  Landon,  commanding  A  company,  will  to 
morrow,  April  19th,  that  being  the  day  appointed  for 
the  funeral  solemnities  of  the  late  President  of  -the 
United  States,  cause  half  hourly  guns  to  be  fired, 
beginning  at  sunrise  and  ending  at  sunset.  By  order. 

I.  McCoNiHE  Jr.,  Col.  Com. 

G.  G.  MOORE,  Adj. 

PROCEEDINGS  AT  THE  KENSSELAER  POLYTECHNIC 
INSTITUTE. 

A  full  meeting  of  the  faculty  and  students  of  the 
institute  with  a  representation  of  its  board  of  trustees, 


102  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  director  Professor  Drowne  in  the  chair,  was  held 
in  the  Institute  Hall,  —  appropriately  draped  for  the 
occasion  —  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  April  18th,  at  5 
o'clock,  to  give  a  united  expression  of  the  feelings  of 
all  present  in  reference  to  the  calamity  sustained  by 
the  nation,  in  the  loss,  by  mad  assassination,  of  its 
devoted  and  accepted  Chief  Magistrate.  At  the  close 
of  some  appropriate  introductory  remarks,  by  the  di 
rector,  Judge  Gould  of  the  board  of  trustees  was 
introduced  and  made  an  earnest  and  impressive 
address;  after  which  the  following  resolutions,  pre 
pared  by  a  committee  of  the  faculty,  were  read  by  its 
secretary. 

Whereas,  He,  whose  ways  are  not  as  our  ways, -has, 
in  His  divine  wisdom,  mysteriously  mingled  glory  and 
gloom  in  the  cups  of  present  national  experience,  by 
suffering  our  devoted  and  beloved  President,  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  to  fall  a  victim  to  him  that  lieth  in  wait 
for  blood,  while  crowning  victories  were  cheering  all 
patriot  hearts. 

JResolved,  That  we  mourn  the  loss  of  a  tried,  trusted, 
and  loved  civil  leader;  a  leader,  calm,  safe,  wise,  kind 
and  good ;  that  we  peculiarly  sympathize  with  his 
stricken  family;  and  that  we  would  unite  with  all 
our  bereaved  countrymen  in  expressing  mutual  sym 
pathies,  and  offering  common  prayers,  in  view  of  this, 
the  nation's  loss  and  sorrow. 

Resolved,  That  we  continue  to  put  steadfast  trust  in 
the  God  of  our  Fathers,  in  whom  it  is  better  to  trust 
than  to  put  confidence  in  man ;  and  that  we  render 
unabated  gratitude,  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  our 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  103 

God  for  His  blessing  thus  far  upon  the  holy  work  of 
national  restoration,  and  for  His  continued  merciful 
preservation  to  us  of  so  many  yet  remaining  able  civil 
and  military  leaders. 

Resolved,  That,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  we  will  unite 
With  willing  fellow-countrymen  everywhere  in  work 
ing  to  ''strengthen  the  things  which  remain"  by  giv 
ing  hearty  support  to  all  upon  whom,  under  Divine 
direction,  rests  the  work  of  guiding  the  nation  in  this 
trying  hour. 

Resolved,  That,  in  honor  of  the  memory  of  the  late 
President,  we  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning 
for  thirty  days  ;  and  will  attend  such  public  exercises 
as  may  be  appointed  by  the  authorities  on  the  day  of 
his  funeral. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  published  in  the 
papers  of  the  city  of  Troy. 

S.  EDWAKD  WAKREN,   ^ 

H.  B.  NASON,  V   Committee. 

P.  H.  BAERMANN.         J 

After  motion,  seconded  in  behalf  of  all  the  students, 
to  adopt  the  above  resolutions,  they  were  supported 
by  Professor  Warren  in  a  few  remarks,  and  by  Pro 
fessor  Baermann  in  a  stirring  address,  and  were 
then  unanimously  adopted,  when  the  director,  after 
brief  closing  remarks,  declared  the  exercises  of  the 
hour  to  be  closed. 


104  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

WEDNESDAY,  APRIL  19TH,  1865. 
DISCOURSE  DELIVERED  AT  THE  NORTH  BAPTIST  CHURCH. 

BY  REV.  C.  P.   SHELDON,  I).D. 

Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen  this  day  in 
Israel  ? —  2  SAMUEL,  iii,  38. 

These  words  were  uttered  in  reference  to  one  of  the 
most  renowned  princes  and  ablest  military  com 
manders  of  the  early  kingdom  of  Israel.  He  was  most 
foully  and  brutally  assassinated  by  a  hostile  rival. 
The  words  are  in  a  higher  and  better  sense  appropri 
ate  and  true  of  the  personage,  whose  cruel  and  bloody 
assassination  has  suddenly  plunged  our  nation  into 
grief  and  mourning.  Such  sorrow,  in  some  of  the 
elements  which  enter  into  it,  the  nation  has  never 
felt  in  the  loss  of  any  public  officer  or  man.  It  never 
mourned  as  it  now  mourns.  The  great  and  the  good 
have  at  other  times  passed  away.  Presidents  have 
before  this  died,  even  while  occupying  the  chair  of 
office  and  with  its  great  responsibilities  resting  upon 
them;  but  never  in  times  of  national  peril,  and  by 
the  hand  of  human  violence.  The  great  and  good 
WASHINGTON,  the  successful  leader  of  our  armies 
through  the  struggle  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  wise 
and  honored  first  President  of  the  Republic,  died 
unexpectedly  and  suddenly;  but  by  natural  disease,, 
and  in  the  quietness  of  his  peaceful  home,  surrounded 
by  his  family  and  friends.  His  public  mission  had 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  1Q5 

been  fulfilled,  the  duties  of  office  had  been  laid  aside, 
and  in  a  simple  and  unostentatious  manner  he  was 
filling  the  position  of  a  citizen,  "  first  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen,"  the  most  loved  and  revered  of  all. 
His  death  overwhelmed  the  nation  in  profoundest 
grief,  but  it  came  in  the  usual  order  of  Divine  provi 
dence.  The  country  was  at  peace,  the  government 
was  stable,  and  every  department  of  it  was  in  healthful 
and  successful  operation. 

The  excellent  and  patriotic  HARRISON  was  called 
away  soon  after  he  assumed  the  duties  of  the  Presi 
dential  office ;  but  his  death  was  also  in  a  time  of 
profoundest  peace,  and  when  order  and  law  reigned 
supreme  throughout  the  land.  He  had  served  his 
country  well  in  other  public  stations,  and  at  an  age 
considerably  advanced,  and  with  physical  health  not 
a  little  enfeebled,  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
high  place.  But  the  burden  was  too  heavy :  nature 
was  overtaxed  and  gave  way.  The  nation  mourned 
this  first  loss  of  its  executive  head,  and  as  for  a  good 
man  and  a  true  patriot.  But  there  was  nothing  in 
the  event  to  shock  particularly  the  national  sensi 
bilities. 

Similarly  did  the  sturdy  and  honest  TAYLOR  pass 
from  the  executive  chair  to  the  grave.  Called  un 
expectedly  by  a  people  who  had  admired  his  heroic 
valor  in  leading  armies  and  winning  battles,  and  who 
had  unbounded  trust  in  his  sterling  integrity  to  as 
sume  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of  the  chief 


14 


UNIVERSITY 


106  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

magistracy,  and  to  meet  the  excitements  incident 
to  such  a  position,  the  change  from  the  simple 
manner  of  life  which  had  characterized  him  in  the 
camp  and  his  own  quiet  home,  proved  too  great  even 
for  him,  and  he  passed  away  in  the  first  months  of  his 
presidential  career.  The  nation  was  sadly  disap 
pointed,  and  again  deeply  wounded ;  but  the  event 
was  not  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  and  was 
submitted  to  as  such.  The  country  had  just  passed 
victoriously  through  a  brief  foreign  war,  was  reposing 
in  a  secured  peace,  and  pursuing  its  path  of  un 
bounded  prosperity. 

How  different  in  all  the  elements  and  circumstances 
attending  it,  the  event,  that  has  now  startled  and 
shocked  the  nation,  and  plunged  it  in  deepest  gloom 
and  profoundest  sorrow  !  We  were  suffering  from  the 
most  causeless,  atrocious,  and  gigantic  rebellion,  that 
had  ever  been  sprung  upon  a  people,  and  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  collisions,  struggles  and  desolations  of  a 
vast  civil  wrar.  After  four  weary  years  of  campaigns, 
battles,  and  victories  mingled  with  reverses,  we  had 
reached  a  point,  where  the  successful  and  speedy  issue 
of  the  struggle  was  manifest.  The  power  of  the  re 
bellion  was  completely  broken,  its  strongholds  were 
in  our  possession,  its  resources  of  men  and  material 
were  exhausted,  its  capital  had  fallen,  its  pretended 
government  was  a  fugitive,  its  principal  army  broken 
and  defeated  had  surrendered,  its  leading  generals 
were  prisoners  in  our  hands,  and  the  dawnings  of 


LINCOLN  MEMOHIAL.  107 

approaching  peace  were  illuminating  the  land.  The 
nation  was  hopeful,  confident  and  rejoicing.  Its  Ex 
ecutive  Chief  was  calm  and  vigorous,  firm  and  strong 
in  body  and  mind.  Around  him  was  a  united  and 
able  cabinet,  and  in  him  centred  the  hope,  confidence 
and  affections  of  the  people,  as  they  had  not  at  any 
previous  period  of  his  difficult  yet  successful  adminis 
tration.  All  hearts  turned  to  him,  much  in  feeling 
and  manner,  as  in  the  nation's  infancy  they  had 
turned  to  the  illustrious  and  noble  WASHINGTON. 

In  an  hour  of  relaxation  from  official  care  and 
labor,  surrounded  by  members  of  his  family  and 
personal  friends,  in  a  place  of  peaceful  amusement, 
unarmed,  unguarded,  unsuspecting,  a  brutal  assassin, 
the  agent  of  a  band  of  conspirators,  and  the  imper 
sonation  of  the  demoniacal  spirit  and  damnable  hate 
which  had  so  animated  the  rebellion,  stole  upon 
him,  and  with  a  suddenness  that  prevented  the  inter 
vention  of  any  averting  human  hand,  by  one  fatal 
shot  laid  him  low  in  death,  and  then  brandishing  a 
dagger  and  crying  "sic  semper  tyrannis,"  amid  the 
awful  shock  and  terrible  confusion,  fled  from  the 
scene.  It  was  a  fearful  tragedy,  darker,  fouler,  more 
hellish  than  any  which  had  before  occurred  in  human 
history.  And  it  seems  to  have  been  one  of  a  series 
of  acts,  which  were  intended  to  strike  down  the 
several  chief  officers  of  the  government,  one  other  of 
whom,  at  about  the  same  hour  and  by  another  hand, 
was  well  nigh  butchered  to  death,  upon  a  sick  bed 
and  in  his  own  peaceful  home. 


108  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL, 

The  nation  was  struck  dumb  at  the  suddenness  and 
indescribable  atrocity  of  the  deed.  Its  great  heart 
almost  ceased  to  beat,  and  it  bowed  itself  in  tears  and 
an  agony  of  sorrow,  and  cried  unto  God  for  help. 
And  now  it  rises  up  with  the  stern  demand  for  ven 
geance  upon  the  perpetrators,  instigators,  and  abettors 
of  the  horrid  crime.  Had  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  died  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  disease,  or  even,  as  the  com 
mander  in  chief  of  our  military  forces,  fallen  upon  the 
field  of  battle,  great  and  terrible  as  the  nation  would 
have  felt  the  calamity  to  be,  it  would  have  calmly  and 
submissively  bowed  to  the  appointment  of  Providence, 
and  under  its  great  loss,  patiently  pursued  the  path 
divinely  marked  out  for  it.  It  seeks,  it  strives,  and 
we  believe  it  will  be  helped  to  do  so  now.  But  oh, 
it  is  so  hard.  So  deep  is  the  darkness  that  enshrouds 
the  event,  it  has  in  it  such  elements  of  human 
agency  and  demoniacal  passion  and  hate,  that  it 
becomes  the  sorest  trial  ever  laid  upon  the  nation's 
faith  and  trust.  But  still  we  must,  we  will  bow 
and  trust.  We  will  see  in  it  the  hand  of  God,  and 
hear  in  it  the  voice  of  God.  "We  will  sadly  bear 
away  and  lay  in  the  grave  the  mutilated  and  lifeless 
form  of  our  great  and  good  President.  We  will 
commit  to  Him  "who  ruleth  over  all"  and  to  future 
developments,  the  explanation  of  this  great  sorrow, 
too  dark  for  us  now  to  understand  and  comprehend, 
and  then,  leaning  upon  His  arm  and  seeking  His 
guidance,  we  will  with  one  mind,  one  heart,  and  one 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  109 

purpose,  arise  to  give  the  finishing  blow  to  this  un 
holy  rebellion,  to  consolidate  our  government  and 
country  in  peace,  and  to  pursue  the  path  of  national 
prosperity  and  greatness. 

Let  us  now  for  a  moment  consider  the  questions, 
what  have  we  lost?  who  was  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN? 
Born  in  Kentucky  in  1809,  a  poor  boy,  destitute  of 
the  ordinary  means  of  education  and  culture,  by 
honest  industry  and  indomitable  energy,  he  at 
length  placed  himself  in  the  front  rank  of  one 
of  the  most  honored  and  cultivated  professions  in 
our  country,  and  took  a  high  position  among  the 
men  of  his  time.  He  served  several  years  in  the 
legislature  of  his  adopted  state,  Illinois,  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  national  congress  in  1847,  was  twice 
the  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  United  States  senate, 
and  was  nominated  for  the  presidency  in  May,  1860, 
and  elected  to  that  office  on  the  6th  of  November  fol 
lowing.  He  was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March,  in 
1861.  So  well  did  he  perform  the  duties  of  that  high 
office,  that  he  was  reflected  on  the  8th  of  November, 
1864,  by  one  of  the  largest  majorities  ever  given  to  a 
candi4ate  for  that  office. 

When  first  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  President, 
the  country  was  in  a  most  deplorable  condition. 
Several  of  the  states  had  seceded  from  the  Union, 
others  were  threatening  to  do  so  ;  a  large  number  of 
the  forts,  arsenals,  custom  houses,  and  military  posts, 
had  been  wrested  from  the  government ;  the  southern 


HO  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

confederacy  had  been  formally  organized;  treason 
was  rampant  in  the  highest  places  of  the  government, 
and  the  rebellion  had  defiantly  entered  upon  its  career. 
He  knew  not  whom  he  could  trust,  nor  upon  whose 
loyalty  and  support  he  could  rely.  Spies  and  agents 
of  the  rebellion  were  in  the  offices  of  the  government, 
and  scattered  in  all  parts  of  the  land.  Such  difficul 
ties  and  dangers  had  never  environed  a  President  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties.  His  own  life  even  was 
not  safe.  He  was  calm,  considerate,  and  conciliatory 
in  his  policy,  yet  firm,  determined,  and  unswervingly 
loyal  to  the  constitution  and  the  country.  His  hon 
esty,  integrity  and  patriotism  were  above  suspicion, 
and  he  drew  the  loyal  heart  of  the  country  to  him. 
He  had  been  but  a  little  more  than  a  month  in  office, 
when  the  attack  was  made  on  Fort  Sumter,  which 
was  followed  by  its  surrender  and  the  inauguration  of 
the  war.  I  will  not  follow  the  history  of  the  war 
during  these  sad  and  bloody  four  years,  nor  his  course 
in  reference  to  it.  The  events  are  fresh  in  your  mem 
ory.  Suffice  it  to  say,  the  war  had  been  successful 
under  his  administration,  and  he  lived  long  enough 
to  see  repossessed  nearly  all  the  posts  and  for.tifica- 
tions  which  had  been  wrested  from  the  government 
by  the  plottings  of  treason,  the  national  banner  float 
ing  in  every  state  in  the  Union,  nearly  all  the  rebel 
seaports  in  possession  of  the  national  forces,  the  sur 
render  and  dispersion  of  the  principal  army  of  the 
rebellion,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  main  cause  which 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  HI 

produced  it,  human  slavery.  He  died  on  the  very  day 
that  the  old  flag,  which  four  years  before  had  been 
lowered  by  the  force  of  armed  treason  from  the  walls 
of  Sumter,  was  raised  by  loyal  hands  .to  its  place 
again,  and  floated  triumphantly  in  the  breeze.  He 
died  with  the  dawnings  of  peace  and  reunion  glad 
dening  his  eyes. 

The  work  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  done,  and  God 
permitted  him  to  be  removed.  But  so  far  as  human 
hands  and  passions  had  to  do  with  it,  "the  deep  dam 
nation  of  his  taking  off"  we  can  never  forget  nor 
forgive.  It  was  most  atrocious  in  its  character,  com 
bining  the  elements  of  horrid  tragedy,  as  no  like  event 
recorded  in  human  history  had  combined  them — most 
shocking  of  all  the  acts  which  degraded  human  na 
ture  had  produced.  It  was  the  consummation  in  full 
development  of  the  demoniacal  spirit  of  slavery  and 
the  rebellion,  that  spirit  wrhich  had  stricken  down  a 
SUMNER  in  the  national  Senate  house,  which  had 
plotted  to  assassinate  the  President  before  his  first 
inaguration,  which  had  beat  and  shot  down  our 
soldiers  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore,  which  had  hanged 
and  murdered  Union  men,  which  had  starved  priso 
ners  to  death  in  the  foulest  of  human  pens,  which  had 
applied  the  incendiary  torch  to  our  peaceful  cities, 
and  now  crowned  its  hellish  acts  with  this  terrible 
deed.  It  was  not  the  result  of  individual  hate.  It 
was  not  an  individual  act  even.  Its  author  was 
merely  an  agent,  carrying  out  the  plottings,  abettings, 


112  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

and  plans  of  the  rebellion,  impelled  by  the  inherent 
barbarism  of  slavery.  Toward  such  a  spirit  we  can 
indulge  no  peace  nor  clemency. 

And  then,  contemplate  the  folly  and  uselessness  of 
the  act.  This  government  is  not  a  one  man  power. 
The  removal  of  no  single  individual,  nor  of  several 
individuals,  could  stop  its  wheels  or  jostle  its  move 
ment.  This  the  conspirators  well  knew,  or  .might 
have  known.  To  strike  down  the  President  there 
fore,  did  not  change  the  government  nor  weaken  its 
power.  It  moved  right  on,  and  it  would  have  moved 
right  on,  had  they  fully  accomplished  their  plans. 
This  they  might  have  expected.  2sTo  good  could  come 
to  the  rebellion  in  the  accomplishment  of  their  pur 
poses.  The  assassination  of  the  President,  and  es 
pecially  at  the  time  it  occurred,  could  add  no  strength 
to  their  cause.  It  only  weakens  it  and  makes  it  the 
more  odious.  The  act  is,  therefore,  marked  by  the 
weakest  folly  as  well  as  the  foulest  crime.  It  could 
only  gratify  the  most  malignant  hate,  and  stamps  the 
rebellion  with  a  damnation  and  disgrace,  that  coming 
years  and  the  judgment  of  the  world,  shall  only  make 
the  more  strong  and  emphatic. 

In  the  death  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  the  nation  has 
lost  one  of  the  wisest,  purest,  best  of  rulers,  and  even 
the  rebellious  south,  one  of  its  truest  friends.  That 
he  committed  mistakes,  he  himself  frankly  acknow 
ledged.  And  where  is  the  man,  that  has  the  assurance 
to  say,  that  in  his  circumstances,  and  environed  by  his 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  113 

difficulties,    he    should    have   committed    less   ones. 
Coming  generations   will  estimate  his  character  and 
appreciate  his  greatness  and  excellence,  as  we  amid 
the  passions,  prejudices  and  excitements  of  the  time, 
are  unable  to  do.     Says  a  foreign  writer  recently  of 
him,  ""We  all  remember  the  animated  eulogium  on 
General   Washington   which   Lord  Macaulay  passed 
parenthetically   in    his  essay  011  Hampden.     'It  was, 
when  to  the  sullen  tyranny  of  Laud  and  Charles  had 
succeeded   the   fierce   conflict  of  sects    and    factions, 
ambitious   of  ascendency  or  burning  for  revenge ;  it 
was,  when   the   vices  and   ignorance   which   the  old 
tyranny  had  engendered,  threatened  the  new  freedom 
with  destruction,  that  England   missed  the  sobriety, 
the  self-command,  the  perfect  rectitude  of  intention, 
to  which  the  history  of  revolutions  furnishes  no  paral 
lel,  or  furnishes  a  parallel  in  Washington  alone.'     If 
that  high  eulogium  was  fully  earned,  as  it  was,  by  the 
first  great  President  of  the  United  States,  we  doubt  if 
it  has  not  been  as  well  earned  by  the  Illinois  peasant 
proprietor  and  'village  lawyer,'  whom,  by  some  divine 
inspiration   or   providence,    the   republican  caucus  of 
1860  substituted  for  Mr.  Seward  as  their  nominee  for 
the  President's   chair.     Mr.   Lincoln   has   persevered 
through    all,  without  ever   giving   way   to  anger,   or 
despondency,  or  exultation,  or  popular  arrogance,  or 
sectarian  fanaticism,  or  cast  prejudice,  visibly  growing 
in  force  of  character,  in  self  possession,   and  in  mag 
nanimity,   till  in  his  last  short  message  to  congress  on 
15 


114  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  fourth  of  March  (the  inaugural)  we  can  detect  no 
longer  the  rude  and  illiterate  mould  of  a  village 
lawyer's  thought,  but  find  it  replaced  by  a  grasp  of 
principle,  a  dignity  of  manner,  and  a  solemnity  of 
purpose,  which  would  have  been  unworthy  neither  of 
Hampden,  nor  of  Cromwell,  while  his  gentleness  and 
generosity  of  feeling  towards  his  foes,  arc  almost 
greater  than  we  should  expect  from  either  of  them." 
This  is  high  testimony  to  his  goodness  and  greatness, 
but  the  statement  is  not  overdrawn. 

In  his  sterling  good  sense,  in  his  profound  know 
ledge  of  human  nature,  in  his  wise  interpretation  of 
passing  events,  in  his  adaptation  to  the  demands  of 
the  time,  in  his  ingenuous  frankness,  in  his  sturdy 
honesty,  in  his  incorruptible  integrity,  in  his  unswerv 
ing  patriotism,  in  his  kindness  to  friends  and  magna 
nimity  to  foes,  in  his  excellence  and  goodness  of 
heart,  he  will  rank  among  the  foremost  men  and 
rulers  of  his  time.  He  did  not  attempt  to  be  what 
he  could  not  be,  the  cultured  scholar,  the  accomplished 
diplomatist,  the  eloquent  orator:  he  was  himself,  ori 
ginal,  practical,  strong,  a  man  of  the  people,  a  great 
and  good  President.  And  yet,  some  of  the  brightest 
gems  of  thought  and  language  that  ever  flowed  from 
human  pen,  or  fell  from  human  lips,  have  come  from 
him.  And  the  crowning  thing  of  all  is,  ABRAHAM  LIN 
COLN  was  a  CHRISTIAN,  a  man  of  faitli  and  of  prayer. 
The  recognition  of  God,  and  a  reliance  upon  God,  • 
have  been  most  marked  characteristics  of  his  presi- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  115 

dential  career,  increasing  and  growing  more  prominent 
as  the  time  passed  on.  We  doubt  not  he  has  been 
called  to  a  higher  service,  in  the  realms  of  eternal 
truth  and  life.  Thus  far  in  the  history  of  our  country, 
no  name  will  so  link  itself  to  the  name  of  WASHINGTON, 
as  the  name  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  So  long  as  there 
is  an  emancipated  bondman,  or  a  descendant  of  his, 
in  this  land,  so  long  will  that  name  be  revered  and 
remembered,  with  devoutest  gratitude  to  God. 

We  bow  in  the  darkness  and  greatness  of  our  grief 
submissively  to  Him,  who  has  permitted  our  ruler  to 
be  taken  from  us.  We  trust  Him  still,  for  ourselves 
and  for  our  country.  May  the  example  of  the  illus 
trious  dead  be  a  copy  to  our  coming  statesmen.  May 
his  life  be  a  lesson  to  all  the  young  men  of  our  land, 
and  may  God  sanctify  his  death,  to  the  benefit  of  all. 

"  Thy  converse  drew  us  with  delight, 
The  men  of  rathe  and  riper  years : 
The  feeble  soul,  a  haunt  of  fears, 
Forgot  his  weakness  in  thy  sight. 

"  On  thee  the  loyal-hearted  hung, 

The  proud  was  half  disarmed  of  pride, 
Nor  cared  the  serpent  at  thy  side 
To  flicker  with  his  treble  tongue. 

;'  The  stern  were  mild  when  thou  wert  by, 
The  flippant  put  himself  to  school 
And  heard  thee,  and  the  brazen  fool 
Was  softened,  and  he  knew  not  why. 


116  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

"  And,  doubtless,  unto  thee  is  given 
A  life  that  bears  immortal  fruit 
In  such  great  offices  as  suit 
The  full-grown  energies  of  heaven." 


SERMON   PREACHED    AT   THE   NORTH    SECOND    STREET 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

BY    KEV.    J.    WESLEY    CARIIART,    D.D. 

Trust  in  Tlim  at  all  times  ;  ye  people,  pour  out  your  heart  before  him: 
God  is  a  refuge,  for  us. —  Psalm,  Ixii,  8. 

Never,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  did  the 
heart  of  any  nation  throb  with  such  sorrow  as  does 
ours  to  day. 

"We  have  suffered  great  national  bereavements  be 
fore,  in  the  death  of  Washington,  Lafayette  and  others 
of  less  distinction ;  but  these  sorrows  were  under 
other  and  less  aggravating  circumstances.  Then 
peace  smiled  on  all -the  land.  The  great  life-work 
of  Washington  and  Lafayette  seemed  to  be  done. 
They  w^ent  to  the  garner  of  the  Lord,  like  the  shock 
of  corn  fully  ripe  and  ready  for  its  master's  use. 
They  were  permitted  to  die  peacefully,  surrounded  by 
kindred  and  friends  to  soothe  and  comfort. 

Not  so  with  the  martyr  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  the 
midst  of  years  and  usefulness  he  was  struck  down  by 
the  hand  of  a  cowardly  assassin,  one  who  dared  not 
meet  him  face  to  face.  Severer  is  the  wound,  since 
hearts  were  already  bleeding  over  loved  and  lost  ones, 
in  every  city,  village  and  town  throughout  the  land. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  H7 

"We  mourn  to  day,  not  merely  the  Chief  Magistrate 
of  the  nation,  but  each  feels  that  he  has  lost  a  person 
al  friend.  It  would  seem  as  though  in  every  house 
there  was  one  dead.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  enshrined 
in  the  hearts  of  this  great  people  as  no  other  man 
ever  was.  Even  his  political  enemies,  how  hitter  so 
ever  they  may  have  been,  feel  that  a  great  and  good 
man  has  fallen,  and  they  hasten  to  pay  that  tribute  to 
his  memory  which  they  feel  his  noble  qualities  merit 
ed,  and  are  found  mingling  with  the  weeping  multi 
tudes  every  where.  Tear  drops  glisten  in  the  eyes  of 
the  little  children,  as  they  reverently  spe'ak  his  name. 
Our  sorrow  is  intensified  by  the  peculiar  combina 
tion  of  circumstances  attending  it.  Four  years  ago, 
rebellion  fired  its  first  gun  on  Fort  Sumter.  That 
gun  echoed  and  reechoed  throughout  the  land.  It 
was  heard  in  every  valley  and  was  returned  with 
added  thunder  from  .every  hillside,  until  the  sons  of 
freedom  poured  in  almost  endless  columns,  from  New 
England,  from  the  Empire  state  and  from  the  bound 
less  prairies  of  the  west,  to  avenge  the  insult  offered 
to  our  flag,  and  protect  the  altars  of  liberty.  Never 
before  did  the  world  witness  such  an  uprising  of  a 
great  people.  The  strife  raged,  longer,  louder  and 
more  bloody,  until  the  gory  folds  of  war  hung  over 
all  our  hearts.  It  was  war  in  fearful  earnest. 

"  ;Twas  war,  war,  war,  with  blood  and  woe; 

Widows  in  tears,  and  children  without  sires ; 
Uncounted,  trampling  hosts  —  a  ceaseless  flow; 


118  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Hearts  burnt  to  dross  by  sorrow's  quenchless  fires — 
Brothers  erecting  brothers'  funeral  pyres, 
And  lovers  weeping  o'er  some  portrait  fair 

That  tells  of  one  whose  noble  heart  aspires 
The  victor's  joy  to  know,  his  palm  to  bear, 
And  on  his  honored  brow  the  crown  of  conqueror  wear." 

At  length,  victory  great  and  glorious  blesses  our 
arms.  The  dawn  of  peace  paints  the  eastern  sky. 
There  are  rifts  in  the  cloud  of  war.  The  sound  of 
battle  recedes.  The  air  is  less  sulphureous  than  before, 
and  on  every  breeze  is  borne  the  victorious  shout  of 
freemen.  Sumter  is  again  ours.  Four  years  from 
the  clay  it  fell,  the  same  old  flag,  so  gallantly  defended 
by  Major  Anderson  and  his  brave  band,  is  again 
thrown  to  the  breeze  of  heaven  above  those  battered 
ramparts,  amid  the  joyous  acclamations  of  a  delivered 
people.  On  that  same  day,  when  our  hopes  were  so 
high  and  our  joy  so  unbounded,  the  arrow  enters  our 
hearts  again.  The  heaviest  sorrow  of  the  whole  war 
falls  upon  us. 

What  extremes  sometimes  meet  in  our  experiences 
here  !  "What  contrasts  sometimes  appear,  in  the  his 
tory  of  individuals  and  nations  !  The  news  is  flashed 
on  the  lightning's  wing  to  every  home  and  every 
heart —  "The  President  is  assassinated  !"  The  whole 
nation  bows  itself  in  sorrow,  and  is  draped  in  mourn 
ing.  Never  was  a  nation's  grief  sincerer  !  Never  was 
such  a  spectacle,  on  such  a  scale,  witnessed  before! 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  in  Hardin  county,  Ken 
tucky,  February  12th,  1809.  At  an  early  age  he 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  H9 

removed  with  his  father's  family  to  Spencer  county, 
Indiana,  where,  for  ten  years,  he  labored  on  his  father's 
farm.  His  educational  advantages  were  limited,  he 
having  attended  school  in  all,  only  about  a  year. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Black  Hawk  Avar  in 
1832,  he  enlisted  as  a  private,  and  was  elected  captain 
of  a  volunteer  company.  This  event,  he  said,  gave 
him  more  satisfaction  than  any  other  success  of  his 
life. 

Such  was  his  character  for  honesty,  sobriety  and 
intelligence,  that  he  was  soon  called  upon  to  hold 
responsible  civil  trusts.  In  such  high  esteem  was  he 
held  by  his  countrymen,  that  in  1846  he  was  elected  a 
representative  in  congress,  and  took  his  seat  on  the 
first  Monday  of  December,  1847.  On  May  16th,  1860, 
the  Republican  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago, 
and  on  motion  of  the  chairman  of  the  New  York 
delegation,  the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
the  presidency  of  the  United  States  was  made  unani 
mous,  and  in  November  following,  he  was  elected  by  a 
large  majority. 

He  came  to  the  presidential  chair  amid  the  threat- 
enings  of  war  and  the  greatest  uncertainty  as  to  who 
were  the  friends  or  the  foes  of  the  republic.  With 
his  administration  of  righteousness  and  wisdom  dur 
ing  those  four  terrible  years,  we  are  familiar.  Never 
before  were  such  responsibilities  imposed  upon  the 
chief  magistrate  of  a  nation.  Never  before  were  they 
met  so  manfully,  and  discharged  with  such  fidelity. 


}20  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

"With,  child-like  trust  in  God,  he  was  divinely  led. 
Sustained  by  the  prayers  of  a  great  people,  he  was 
made,  under  God,  the  benefactor  of  his  race.  Mil 
lions  of  freedmen  rise  up  to  call  him  blessed.  As  the 
ages  roll  on,  his  name  will  brighten.  His  was  a  mind 
of  superior  power.  His  a  character  of  beautiful  sym 
metry.  The  circumstances  under  which  he  was  reared, 
as  well  as  the  natural  disposition  of  his  heart,  made 
him  preeminently  one  of  the  people.  He  thought  as 
the  people  thought,  felt  as  the  people  felt,  and  was,  in 
the  noblest  sense,  our  brother. 

The  elevation  of  such  an  one  from  the  humbler 
walks  of  life  to  the  highest  position  in  the  gift  of  the 
people,  shows  the  genius  of  our  American  institutions. 
Without  material  wealth,  or  family  renown  ;  without 
liberal  advantages  for  learning ;  without  literary  at 
tainments  to  distinguish  him ;  enured  to  toil  and 
hardship,  he  rose  above  his  fellows  by  virtue  of 
superior  natural  endowments  of  mind  and  heart. 

It  is  the  glory  of  American  institutions  that  they 
open  the  way  to  greatness  and  renown  to  all  however 
humble.  "All  men  are  created  equal"  shall  be  our 
motto  forever.  In  what  other  land  and  nation  could 
the  elevation  of  one  in  such  humble  circumstances  to 
such  a  position,  have  occurred  ?  Trees  of  such  luxu 
riant  growth  and  maturity  are  indigenous  to  no  soil 
but  ours. 

His  was  a  noble  and  generous  nature.  He  was  true 
to  the  interests  of  his  country,  yet  forgiving  towards 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  121 

her  foes.  He  was  strict  in  the  administration  of  jus 
tice,  with  no  spirit  of  revenge  to  gratify.  He  shrank 
from  war,  with  all  the  tenderness  of  a  maiden,  and 
yet,  when  all  other  hearts  faltered  and  grew  faint,  his 
w«s  undaunted.  When  others  were  desponding,  he 
was  hopeful. 

He  adopted  no  policy  of  his  own,  but  with  his 
finger  on  the  popular  pulse  he  watched  the  sentiment 
of  the  nation,  knowing  that  the  evil  would  be  as 
great  to  be  in  advance  of  his  times  as  to  be  behind. 
He  kept  pace  with  the  times,  and  was  governed  by 
the  sentiment  of  the  people ;  taking  as  his  motto, 
"  Vox  populiy  vox  dei." 

There  were  times  when  we  thought  him  too  slow  and 
too  lenient.  But  greater  haste  and  severity  might 
have  ruined  the  nation.  History  will  undoubtedly 
record,  and  indeed  has  already  begun  to  do  so,  that 
his  was  the  course  of  wisdom.  His  acts,  as  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  nation,  must  live  forever.  Some  of 
them — the  crowning  acts  of  his  administration,  are 
engrossed  011  the  imperishable  records  of  eternity. 
That  act,  whereby  four  millions  of  human  beings 
were  freed  from  bondage,  is  without  a  parallel  in  the 
history  of  sovereigns.  The  proclamation  of  freedom 
was  like  the  angel  in  mid  heaven,  crying,  "  Behold,  I 
bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be 
to  all  people." 

Intensely  interesting  has  it  been  to  watch  the 
onward  march  of  sentiment  with  reference  to  the  sin 

16 


122  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

and  curse  of  human  slavery.  The  strife  was  long 
and  hard,  but  at  length  culminated,  when  God  came 
in  might  to  the  rescue.  It  seemed  that  although 
atonement  had  already  been  made  for  individual  sins, 
there  could  be-no  wiping  out  of  our  great  national 
transgression  without  a  further  shedding  of  blood. 

The  immortal  utterance  of  President  Lincoln  upon 
this  subject  in  his  late  inaugural,  brought  the  grateful 
applause  of  the  good,  and  the  scoffs  of  the  vile  and 
unappreciative.  He  .said,  "Woe  unto  the  world 
because  of  offences,  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences 
come ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence 
cometh.  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  Slavery 
is  one  of  these  offences  —  which  in  the  providence  of 
God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  continued 
through  His  appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove, 
and  that  He  gives  to  both  north  and  south  this  ter 
rible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the 
offence  came  —  shall  we  discern  there  is  any  depart 
ure  from  those  Divine  attributes  which  the  believers 
in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him  ?  Fondly  do 
we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty 
scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God 
wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the 
bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited 
toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn 
with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago, 
so  still  it  must  be  said  that  the  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether." 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  123 

It  took  a  long  time  for  the  people  to  come  up  to 
that  position  where  they  could  without  hesitancy  say, 
"  Let  slavery  perish,  but  save  the  nation."  When 
the  people  said  that,  Abraham  Lincoln  said,  u  Open 
the  prison  doors,  and  let  the  captives  go  free  !"  And 
the  millions  went  forth,  and  the  tramp  of  freedom's 
hosts  will  resound  throughout  the  coming  ages. 

One  such  act  in  the  life  of  any  man  is  enough  for 
human  greatness. 

The  world  had  scarcely  yet  come  to  regard  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  as  among  the  truly  great  men  of  the 
earth,  when  the  murderer's  hand  hurled  him  to  the 
grave.  Now,  as  seen  in  contrast  with  the  renowned 
of  the  world,  he  outshines  them  all,  and  yet  it  can 
with  truth  be  said  of  him,  he  was  only  great  as  he 
was  good. 

We  wonder  at  the  strange  providence  of  God,  that 
allowed  such  an  event  to  occur  at  this  time,  and  under 
these  circumstances,, and  well  we  may,  for  His  provi 
dences  are  profoundly  mysterious.  We  know  nothing 
of  God's  processes  in  providence,  nature  or  grace. 

The  dew-drop  that  hangs  in  the  bell  of  a  flower,  no 
less  than  the  majestic  mountain  that  rears  its  head 
above  the  clouds,  or  the  mighty  planet  that  whirls  in 
space  —  is  a  world  of  wonder. 

Man  is  equally  lost  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
earth-worm,  or  himself. 

So  in  grace.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth, 
and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 


124  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth :  so  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  spirit."  "Without  contro 
versy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness."  We  need 
not  then  expect  to  understand  the  purposes  of  Jehovah 
when  friends  sicken  and  die,  when  the  most  prominent 
and  useful  are  cut  off  in  the  bloom  and  vigor  of  their 
manhood,  and  the  pauper,  the  inebriate,  the  felon  is 
spared  to  be  a  burden,  a  curse  to  society. 

"  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way, 

His  wonders  to  perform  j 
He  plants  his  footsteps  in  the  sea, 
And  rides  upon  the  storm." 

There  is  one  point  connected  with  this  subject  up 
on  which  we  would  be  especially  guarded,  and  which 
we  would  impress  upon  all  your  hearts,  and  that  is, 
God  did  not  ordain  this  assassination.  He  did  not, 
strictly  speaking,  permit,  but  suffered  it.  To  say  that 
he  ordained  it,  is  to  say  that  the  murderer  committed 
no  sin  against  God  and  no  crime  against  humanity. 
To  say  that  God  permitted  it,  is  to  say  that  he  sanc 
tioned  it.  He  suffered  it.  He  does  not  see  fit  to  pre 
vent  all  that  he  may  hate.  With  reference  to  many 
things,  He  doubtless  sees  it  more  to  his  glory  to  suffer 
them  to  be  so,  than  to  interfere  and  by  almighty 
power,  prevent  them,  and  consequently  he  says  of 
them,  "Suffer  it  to  be  so  now."  So  when  the  hellish 
work  of  conspiracy  against  the  President's  life  was 
going  on,  he  said,  "Suffer  it  to  be  so  now."  And 
when  the  cowardly  assassin,  bent  on  the  accomplish- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  125 

ment  of  his  fiendish  purpose,  entered  that  private  box 
and  aimed  the  deadly  weapon  at  the  head  of  the  Pre 
sident,  God  said,  "Suffer  it  to  be  so  now,"  and  it  was 
done,  the  fearful  deed  was  done  ! 

Abraham  Lincoln's  mission  to  this  people  may  have 
been  at  an  end.  His  death  may  serve  the  purposes  of 
God  with  reference  to  the  nation  better  than  his  life. 
!N"ot  that  his  life  was  unimportant,  but  it  may  be  that 
we  had  come  to  depend  too  much  on  him,  and  God 
suffered  him  to  be  taken  away,  to  show  us  that  the 
salvation  of  the  nation  was  in  His  hands,  and  safe ; 
that  He  can  carry  on  His  work  though  His  workmen 
fall. 

Leniency  to  traitors  was  once  necessary,  and  una 
voidable,  to  a  great  extent.  And  although  mercy 
should  be  shown  by  the  government  to  the  mass  of 
those  in  arms  against  us,  yet  the  time  has  come  when 
the  leaders  in  the  rebellion  must  be  punished.  '  Of 
them  it  may  be  said,  "Mercy  to  the  individual  would 
be  cruelty  to  the  state."  Leniency  to  such  would 
prove  the  curse  of  the  country.  We  have  not  yet  be 
gun  to  punish  treason.  We  scarcely  appreciate  the 
nature  of  the  crime. 

All  through  the  north  as  well  as  the  south  are  men 
unpunished,  who  have  not  only  expressed  sympathy 
with  traitors,  but  have  rendered  them  aid  and  comfort. 
God  deals  with  rebels  in  a  sterner  way.  Every  ac 
count  in  the  bible  of  his  dealings  with  rebels  proves 
this. 


126  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

It  is  God's  purpose  that  treason  against  this  govern 
ment  shall  be  punished.  President  Lincoln's  position 
of  leniency  seemed  to  be  a  necessity  from  which  he 
could  not  well  recede.  He  was  suffered  to  be  removed 
from  that  position,  by  means  the  best  calculated  to 
excite,  not  a  spirit  of  revenge  but  a  desire  and  deter 
mination  on  the  part  of  the  people  that  the  penalty  of 
the  law  should  be  inflicted.  Now  justice  can  be 
measured  out.  I  pray  that  it  may  be.  The  psalmist 
prays  with  reference  to  his  enemies,  "Let  death  seize 
upon  them,  and  let  them  go  down  quick  into  hell." 
His  enemies  were  incorrigible.  He  saw  no  chance  for 
repentance,  and  that  in  view  of  the  mischief  they  were 
working,  hell  and  the  grave  were  the  fittest  places  for 
them.  Is  there  not  an  analogy  between  his  enemies 
and  ours  ? 

Let  treason  go  unpunished,  let  the  leaders  be  scat 
tered  and  these  branches  of  the  deadly  Upas  will 
strike  themselves  into  the  soil,  become  rooted,  and 
again  bring  forth  their  hellish  fruit. 

Andrew  Johnson  is  President.  Our  'duty  is  now 
plain.  "  Trust  in  God  at  all  times."  Such  confidence 
will  have  the  effect  to  calm  our  hearts  and  quiet  our 
fears,  to  revive  hope,  to  inspire  confidence  in  our 
cause,  and  to  insure  the  blessing  of  heaven.  It  will 
nerve  the  national  heart  for  nobler  achievements ;  and 
if  need  be,  for  deeper  sorrow  and  intenser  suffering 
and  further  sacrifice. 

We  have  trusted  too  much  in  men  and  generals,  in 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  127 

numbers  and  skill.  We  have,  to  a  great  extent, 
ignored  God.  Let  us  now  acknowledge  Him.  Our 
privilege  is  to  pour  out  our  hearts  before  Him.  We 
are  not  merely  to  pray  to  Him,  in  the  ordinary  accep 
tation  of  the  term,  but  to  wrestle  with  Him.  Did  you 
ever  go  to  God  with  any  great  desire  ?  Did  you  feel  that 
that  desire  was  all  absorbing,  and  uppermost  in  your 
heart  ?  Did  you  feel  that  the  granting  of  your  request 
was  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God,  and  that  you 
could  not  be  denied  ?  Did  you  allow  no  object  to 
intervene  between  you  and  your  God  ?  Then  you  know 
what  it  is  to  wrestle  with  God.  In  like  manner  go  to 
Him  now.  Pour  out  your  heart  before  Him  in  behalf 
of  the  interests  of  this  nation.  God  has  already  heard 
our  prayer,  and  has  averted  many  a  sorrow  that  would 
otherwise  have  come  upon  us.  He  hath  spared  the 
nation  for  the  righteous'  sake. 

Let  those  who  have  vilified  the  President  and  cursed 
the  government,  go  before  their  Maker  and  repent  as 
in  dust  and  ashes  at  his  feet,  if  haply  they  may  find 
Him,  and  be  forgiven. 

ADDRESS   DELIVERED   IN    THE   SECOND   PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

BY  REV.  D.  S.    GREGORY. 

The  event  which  has  called  us  to  these  sad  solemni 
ties  to-day,  is  one  which  has  clothed  the  places  of 
state  in  sackcloth  and  left  a  nation  in  mourning.  It 
is  always  wise  to  give  heed  to  the  striking  providences 


128  LINCOLN  MEMOEIAL. 

which  from  time  to  time  startle  the  nations  as  with 
an  audible  voice  of  God.  Not  to  give  heed  to  such  a 
providence  as  this,  not  to  permit  it  to  settle  in  the 
heart  and  to  leave  its  impress  upon  the  character  and 
life,  would  be  evidence  of  a  degree  of  insensibility 
which  should  arouse  and  shock  every  Christian  man. 
These  hundreds  of  cities  draped  in  mourning,  the 
silence  in  these  millions  of  homes,  these  busy  scenes 
of  traffic  hushed  and  darkened,  these  ten  thousand 
sanctuaries  clad  in  sable,  these  many  eyes  to  which 
tears  are  no  longer  strangers,  proclaim  to  day  the 
deep  and  solemn  feeling  of  a  bereaved  people.  The 
greatness,  the  suddenness  of  the  calamity,  accom 
panied  at  once  with  circumstances  of  the  most  tender 
and  affecting  interest  and  of  the  most  horrifying  and 
revolting  nature,  speaks  to  the  heart  in  irresistible 
language.  Death  is  always  a  solemn  thing,  opening 
up  before  us  as  it  does  visions  of  the  grave,  of  the 
judgment,  and  of  eternity  with  its  rewards  and  retri 
butions  ;  but  it  is  made  a  doubly  solemn  thing  to-day, 
by  the  circumstances  in  which  it  is  pressed  upon  our 
attention . 

Nothing  could  bring  home  to  us  more  forcibly  the 
thought  that  we  can  never  be  placed  beyond  the  reach  of 
death.  Greatness  or  eminence  in  position  cannot  give 
immunity  from  death.  It  would  be  vain  to  deny  to 
him,  whom  this  most  atrocious  murder  of  the  modern 
ages  has  taken  off,  the  title  of  great.  True  he  may 
have  had  none  of  those  qualities  that  dazzle,  that 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  129 

awaken  the  enthusiasm  of  an  hour,  but  there  was 
something  more  substantial  than  these  in  his  charac 
ter  which  will  cause  his  name  to  be  written  above  all 
merely  glittering  names,  on  the  scroll  of  fame.  Called 
to  preside  in  the  grandest  national  crisis  in  the  world's 
history,  to  guide  this  mighty  nation  in  an  overturning 
beside  which  all  the  other  revolutions  of  the  age  are 
dwarfed  into  mere  child's  play,  he  has  nowhere  been 
found  icanting.  Entering  upon  his  work  in  a  capital, 
a  very  sink  of  corruption,  he  escaped  the  contamina 
tion.  Beset  from  the  first  by  political  harpies,  he 
cast  them  off  and  gathered  around  him  the  wisdom 
and  strength  of  that  party  of  many  political  creeds 
but  of  one  heart,  the  mighty  union  party  of  the  land. 
Slandered  and  maligned  by  radicals  of  every  sort  and 
all  extremes,  he  took  his  stand  like  a  rock  for  the 
right,  seemingly  insensible  alike  to  censure  and  to 
flattery.  'And  while  the  mighty  struggle  has  been 
going  on  through  the  years,  we  have  felt  sometimes 
how  keen  and  piercing  an  eye  has  been  fixed  upon  it 
to  interpret  the  march  of  events,  and  how  mighty  a 
hand  has  been  constantly  shaping  the  policy  of  the 
nation.  Future  generations  alone  will  comprehend 
it  fully. 

But  one  thing  is  plain  even  now,  and  that  is,  that 
the  man  of  whom  it  can  be  said  in  such  a  mighty 
struggle  —  almost  mightier  than  the  world  has  ever 
seen  before  —  the  man  of  whom  it  can  be  said  that 
he  has  not  been  found  wanting,  not  wanting  in  insight 

IT 


130  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

and  grasp  of  thought,  not  wanting  in  strength  of  will 
and  power,  not  wanting  in  honesty  and  stern  integ 
rity,  not  wanting  in  a  deep  sense  of  his  God-given 
mission,  that  man,  however  many  and  varied  his 
faults,  was  great,  not  in  position  only  but  in  nature- 
But  this  human  greatness,  felt  at  home,  and  begin 
ning  to  be  acknowledged  everywhere  abroad,  this 
human  greatness  which  under  God  had  solved  the 
problem  which  the  nations  had  proclaimed  insoluble, 
could  not  save  its  envied  possessor  from  death — sud 
den  and  fearful  death  ! 

The  glory  of  the  hour  of  triumph,  when  that  triumph 
is  the  success  of  a  nation,  of  freedom,  of  humanity, 
of  justice. and  of  God,  could  not  stay  the  mighty  and 
universal  conqueror.  "While  the  flag  of  freedom  was 
being  flung  to  the  breeze  again  at  Sumter,  to  assure 
blood-stained  treason  of  the  ascendency  of  the 
national  authority  on  the  very  birth-ground  of  this 
wicked,  treacherous  rebellion,  and  while  the  news  of 
the  discomfiture  and  destruction  of  mighty  rebel 
hosts  was  being  borne  on  the  wings  of  wind  and 
lightning  to  the  nations  of  the  earth,  this  nation  was 
roused  by  the  news  of  his  most  horrible  assassination. 

The  grandest  magnanimity  of  soul  cannot  save  from 
death.  There  must  have  been  a  grandeur  of  soul 
about  the  man  who  could  pass  through  four  years  of 
such  a  struggle,  and  then  come  to  a  second  inaugural 
address  with  those  wonderful  words,  "  with  charity  to 
all  and  malice  for  none,"  and  so  illustrate  this  in  his 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  131 

life  as  did  Abraham  Lincoln.  Four  years,  during 
which  no  day  passed  in  which  the  organs  and  leaders 
of  this  rebellion,  which  is  now  passing  away  as  chaff 
before  the  breath  of  Almighty  justice,  did  not  fero 
ciously  assail  and  malign,  and  strive  to  fix  his  name 
along  with  everything  that  is  basest  in  nature  and  in 
history,  in  earth  and  in  hell,  and  yet  four  years  in 
which  he  did  not  utter  one  word  of  vindictiveness ! 
Four  such  years,  when  the  least  demand  of  justice 
was  death  to  every  traitor,  were  crowned  by  that  act 
of  clemency  which  may  well  astonish  the  world,  in 
which  he  showed  how  ready  he  was  to  forgive !  Yet 
such  magnanimity  could  not  save  him  from  death, 
and  death  too  by  so  foul  a  murder,  at  the  hand  of 
those  against  whom  God  has  written  himself  the 
eternal  foe,  though  he  had  shown  himself  so  ready  to 
forgive  and  overlook  the  crime  which  cried  out  to 
heaven. 

The  deepest  affection  of  a  great  people  cannot  save  from 
death.  Here  is  one  before  us,  who  against  the  strong 
est  opposing  influences,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  bitter 
ness  of  a  great  strife,  had  won  his  way  to  all  honest 
hearts,  adding,  we  trust,  the  Christian  to  the  man. 
Here  is  one  whose  life  had  conquered  political  and 
partizan  prejudices  and  made  his  love  a  delight  to 
the  nation.  More  and  more  unitedly,  more  and  more 
firmly  this  people  have  gathered  round  him  through 
the  years  of  tumult  arid  conflict,  until  the  man  who 
had  emptied  his  coffers  in  the  great  and  glorious 


132  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

cause,  and  the  soldier  who  had  faced  death  in  a 
hundred  battles,  and  the  father  and  mother  who  had 
laid  their  son  upon  the  altar  of  liberty,  to  be  sacri 
ficed  and  then  buried  in  a  nameless  grave,  and  the 
widowed  wife  and  the  fatherless  children  who  looked 
tearfully  and  anxiously  into  the  darkened  future, 
until  all  felt  that  in  him  they  had  a  friend  and  son 
and  brother  and  husband  and  father.  At  such  an 
hour  came  the  fearful  blow,  and  it  fell  upon  the  nation 
like  a  death  in  every  home.  Even  a  nation's  heart 
overflowing  so  with  love,  could  not  avert  the  blow. 
Death  is  an  omnipotent  and  remorseless  conqueror. 

"What  a  lesson  of  death  then  to  the  nation  to-day. 
Death  loves  a  shining  mark.  Nothing  can  guard 
against  it,  when  the  hour  comes :  no  position,  neither 
the  lowliness  of  the  hovel  nor  the  exaltation  of  the  pre 
sident's  mansion,  neither  the  helplessness  of  the  child 
nor  the  strength  of  the  man  :  no  earthly  love,  not  a 
wife's  with  its  tenderness,  not  a  father's  with  its 
strength,  not  a  mother's  with  its  depth,  not  a  nation's 
with  the  tenderness  and  strength  and  depth  of  all 
these.  Death  awaits  you.  It  may  come  in  an  in 
stant — without  leaving  time  to  ask,  "Am  I  prepared 
to  die  ?  "  It  should  impress  this  solemn  thought  upon 
every  one  in  this  nation.  God  has  come  into  the 
high  places  that  he  might  speak  to  each  and  all.  Oh ! 
will  this  people  give  heed  ? 

But  God  has  come  to  teach  us  the  vanity  of  man,  even 
at  his  best  estate.  "  Altogether  vanity!  "  How  empty 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  133 

a  trust  is  he.  O  people,  "put  not  your  trust  in  . 
princes,  nor  in  the  son  of  man  in  whom  is  no  help." 
What  are  all  the  great  ones  in  God's  plan  after  all  but 
the  most  insignificant  instruments?  To-day  there 
lies  cold  and  low  in  yonder  capital  of  the  nation,  one 
of  these  chosen  instruments  of  the  great  King.  God 
himself  seemed  strangely  to  point  him  out  and  to 
cling  to  him  through  the  years.  Selected  as  candidate 
for  the  chief  magistracy  in  preference  to  our  wisest 
statesman,  called  to  fulfil  a  work  to  which  a  nation 
would  have  shrunk  from  calling  an  untried  man,  led 
on  in  ways  the  wisdom  of  which  it  has  taken  time  to 
justify — Providence  had  seemed,  like  the  nation,  so 
to  cling  to  the  man !  But  suddenly  he  is  cut  down 
by  the  hand  of  a  brutal  murderer.  The  news  flashes 
with  lightning  wings  across  the  nation.  A  wail  goes 
up  to  heaven  from  every  house,  and  all  eyes  fill  with 
blinding  tears.  Yonder  where  we  looked  upon  our 
great  and  honored,  and  trusted,  and  beloved  Presi 
dent,  there  is  only  dust  and  ashes  —  only  dust  and 
ashes !  0  nation,  put  not  your  trust  in  princes,  nor 
in  the  son  of  man  in  whom  there  is  no  help  !  God's 
mighty  work  —  the  triumph  of  truth  and  justice  and 
freedom  and  humanity,  does  not  in  the  least  depend 
upon  any  of  these.  The  workmen  perish  but  the 
work  goes  on  —  on  —  on  through  the  ages  —  on  —  on 
through  the  nations, —  on  —  on  to  final,  complete  and 
everlasting  triumph.  Whatever  oppose,  the  day  shall 
come  when  the  grand  principles  of  the  gospel  shall  be 


134  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

everywhere  acknowledged  with,  their  freedom,  and  no 
foot  of  earth  be  cursed  by  error,  injustice,  tyranny  or 
oppression.  These  great  ones  at  best  are  little  more 
than  dust  and  ashes,  at  most  but  the  frail  reeds  with 
which  God's  omnipotence  smites  down  the  wicked  and 
the  oppressor.  Of  them  we  may  say  with  the  divinely 
inspired  preacher,  "Vanity  of  vanities;  all  is  vanity." 

But  in  speaking  of  mortality  and  vanity,  God's 
voice  to-day  calls  again  to  repentance.  God  forbid  that 
we  should  forget  that  He  has  been  chastising  us  for 
sin.  Universal  corruption  added  to  the  vow  to  con 
sign  man,  made  in  God's  own  image,  to  perpetual 
bondage,  called  for  Divine  justice.  The  corruption 
which  has  fattened  on  even  these  million  deaths  de 
mands  rebuke.  God  has  been  smitting  us  as  well  as 
this  iniquitous  rebellion,  smiting  us  on  all  these  thou 
sand  battle  fields.  Now,  again  to-day  He  comes  by 
this  most  startling  voice,  and  demands  of  the  nation, 
"Have  you  repented?"  Oh!  have  we  repented?  God's 
heart  is  full,  but,  0  !  justice  will  have  her  way  —  eter 
nal  justice —  until  we  repent.  This  event  may  teach 
us  that  God's  storehouse  is  full.  "We  know  not  what 
may  await  an  impenitent  people.  God's  ways  are  a 
mighty  deep.  Repent — repent  at  His  fearfully  solemn 
command. 

But  God  speaks  to  us  to-day  of  justice,  as  well  as  of 
death  and  nothingness  and  repentance.  The  innocent 
blood  cries  out  to  heaven  for  vengeance,  not  simply 
against  the  miserable,  misguided,  besotted  tool  of  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  135 

traitor,  who  struck  for  him  the  blow  that  has  bereaved 
a  nation,  but  vengeance  against  the  traitors  all  over 
the  land  who  nerved  and  guided  the  fiendish  blow ; 
against  the  spirit  of  the  savage  and  the  fiend  that  has 
urged  and  upheld  the  cold-blooded  butchery  of  these 
millions,  which  doomed  to  starvation  the  thousands  in 
the  prison-pens  of  Andersonville  and  Richmond,  and 
which  has  drenched  this  whole  land  in  blood  and 
tears.  Such  men,  wherever  found,  as  the  leaders,  of 
evil,  are  fit  only  for  death  ;  and  while  it  is  the  great 
duty  of  the  hour  to  extend  the  hand  of  forgiveness 
and  love  to  all  the  misguided  victims  of  such  traitors, 
it  is  a  duty  stern  as  retribution  itself  to  which  this 
awfully  solemn  providence  has  called  this  nation,  to 
see  to  it  that  there  be  no  immunity  to  treason,  no 
price  paid  for  it  in  the  future,  that  shall  ensure  des 
truction  to  the  coming  generations.  Justice,  at  such 
times,  justice  to  the  murderer,  justice  without  fear  or 
passion,  justice  which  abides  by  God's  eternal  word 
and  God's  eternal  right  is  the  only  safety  for  the  pre 
sent,  for  the  coming  time  and  the  coming  generations  : 
and  to  justice,  this  awful  providence,  this  fearful  crime 
has  called  this  nation  with  a  voice  like  a  judgment 
trumpet. 

God  grant  that  we  may  not  forget  this  justice,  this 
repentance,  this  vanity  and  mortality  of  man,  and  in 
the  coming  future  it  will  be  seen  that  this  bloodiest 
murder  of  the  modern  ages  has  not,  in  God's  great 
providence,  been  in  vain. 


136  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

ADDRESS  DELIVERED  IN  THE  SECOND  STREET  PRESBY 
TERIAN  CHURCH. 

BY  REV.  DUNCAN  KENNEDY,   D.D. 

At  this  hour,  an  event  is  occurring  at  the  Capitol 
of  the  nation,  upon  which  the  gaze  of  the  millions  of 
our  countrymen  is  intensely  fixed.  It  is  not  what  a 
few  days  since,  we  anticipated  it  would  be,  a  scene  of 
gla'dness,  accompanied  by  every  outward  demonstra 
tion  of  rejoicing.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  one  of  funereal 
gloom,  of  tears,  of  unaffected  grief.  How  abrupt  the 
transition  from  the  anticipated  to  the  real,  and  how 
mighty  the  contrast  between  the  two  !  How  strange 
that  amid  circumstances  well  fitted  to  beget  the  loudest 
paeans  of  national  joy;  when  numerous  armies  are 
yielding  to  the  power  of  the  government ;  when  strong 
fortifications  are  crumbling  at  our  feet ;  when  skillful 
generals  are  stricken  with  despair,  and  veteran  sol 
diers  are  scattering  like  the  leaves  of  autumn ;  when 
treason  is  suffering  a  fatal  exhaustion,  and  rebellion 
is  in  its  dying  struggle  ;  when  the  drama  of  blood, 
with  its  fearful  scenes  of  carnage,  is  culminating  in 
the  restoration  of  peace  and  concord ;  when  the  glori 
ous  banner  of  the  Union  has  just  been  unfurled  in  the 
very  place,  where,  four  years  since,  it  was  stricken 
down  by  parricidal  hands ;  how  strange  that  amid 
such  stirring  and  heart-thrilling  events,  the  day  should 
be  one  of  unaffected  sorrow,  and  that  the  whole  coun 
try  should  be  clothed  in  habiliments  of  mourning ! 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  137 

For  a  solution  of  this  mystery,  we  ask  you  to  look 
at  what  is  now  passing  at  the  Capital.  There  is  seen 
a  densely  formed  procession  made  up  of  myriads  of 
all  classes  of  our  fellow  citizens,  moving  in  slow  and 
measured  tread,  marked  by  every  token  of  sadness, 
bearing  forth  the  mortal  part  of  one,  whose  official 
life  has  commanded  deeper  feeling,  stronger  affection, 
fiercer  animosity,  and  a  more  extended  influence  than 
have  gathered  around  any  other  Chief  Magistrate  of 
this  people,  since  the  "Father  of  his  Country"  sunk 
to  rest  amid  the  hallowed  shades  of  Mount  Vernon  ! 
The  true  patriot  has  accomplished  his  mission ;  the 
loving  heart  has  ceased  to  beat ;  the  mild  eye  is  for 
ever  closed ;  the  friendly  voice  is  silent ;  the  head  that 
had  toiled  so  unremittingly  for  the  integrity  of  the 
nation,  and  had  so  successfully  planned  for  the  rees- 
tablishment  of  prosperity  and  peace,  is  being  laid  upon 
its  pillow  of  earth,  and  we  are  taking  our  farewell 
look  of  all  that  remains  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  the 
latest,  and  among  the  best  of  the  presidents  of  the 
United  States !  No  wonder  the  nation  is  in  tears  ! 
No  wonder  that  every  town  and  city  and  hamlet 
through  all  the  loyal  states  are  draped  in  emblems  of 
grief!  '  No  wonder  that  universal  joy,  which  was 
beginning  to  burst  forth  in  various  forms  and  expres 
sions  of  outward  gladness,  has  been  repressed,  yield 
ing  to  the  mightier  claims  of  universal  sorrow ! 

Had  the  event  occurred  in  the  usual  course  of  pro 
vidential  dispensation,  deep  as  the  mystery  might 

18 


138  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

seem,  and  profound  as  the  grief  would  be,  the  shock 
would  not  have  been  so  great,  nor  the  revulsion  of 
feeling  so  abrupt  and  painful.  Had  he  died  as  men 
ordinarily  die,  had  we  been  apprised,  day  by  day,  of 
the  progress  of  disease  wofking  its  way,  slowly  but 
surely,  toward  the  seat  of  life,  we  would  have  become 
nerved  for  the  event,  and  the  dread  intelligence  he  is 
dead,  would  have  been  received  with  comparative 
composure.  But  no  such  premonitions  prepared  us 
for  the  catastrophe.  We  had  not  thought  even,  that 
such  an  event  was  possible.  Had  the  blow  been 
struck  when  he  was  in  Richmond,  it  would  have  been 
scarcely  a  matter  of  surprise,  for  there,  we  knew  him 
to  have  been  surrounded  by  the  bitterest  enemies ; 
but  having  returned  in  safety,  we  dismissed  our  tran 
sient  fears,  and  yielded  to  the  calmness  of  wonted 
security.  But  how  soon  has  the  spell  been  broken ! 
How  sudden  and  stunning  the  event !  Ruthlessly 
stricken  down  in  the  fullness  of  his  strength  by  the 
bloody  hand  of  the  assassin ;  at  the  period  too,  when 
beginning  to  realize  the  rewards  of  toil,  anxiety  and 
responsibility  without  parallel  in  official  experience ; 
when,  having  reached  the  point  in  the  national  strug 
gle,  from  which,  as  from  a  lofty  eminence,  he  could 
see  the  sun  of  peace  and  prosperity  beginning  to  gild 
the  darkened  heavens,  and  contemplate  the  different 
states  of  the  Union  soon  to  enjoy  undisturbed  repose 
—  at  such  a  time,  in  the  very  capital  of  the  nation, 
surrounded  and  protected  by  the  most  formidable 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  139 

defences,  to  be  made  the  victim  of  that  foul  spirit  of 
treason  which  he  had  so  long  and  successfully  battled, 
is  well  fitted  to  strike  every  heart  with  horror,  and  to 
cause  the  sternest  spirits  in  the  land  to  tremble 
with  agitation  and  fear  !  In  view  of  such  an  event, 
paralleled  only  by  the  assassination  of  Henry  IV  of 
France,  and  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  of  Holland,  no 
wonder  that  an  entire  nation  is  in  tears  !  And  when 
the  millions  of  the  dusky  children  of  the  south  shall 
have  heard  that  " Father  Abraham,"  the  Moses  of 
their  deliverance  from  worse  than  Egyptian  bondage, 
has  fallen,  their  mourning  will  be  even  more  deep 
than  ours,  it  will  be  "as  the  mourning  of  Hadadrim- 
mon  in  the  valley  of  Megiddon." 

For  many  of  the  disappointments  and  disasters 
which  occurred  at  the  commencement,  and  during  the 
progress  of  the  war  to  the  army  and  the  navy  ;  for  the 
conflicting  theories  and  conduct  of  statesmen  which 
perplexed  the  councils  of  the  nation ;  and  for  the  in- 
competency  or  treachery  of  military  leaders  which,  at 
times,  cast  so  deep  a  gloom  over  the  loyal  spirit  of  the 
people,  we  are  able  to  discover  satisfactory  reasons. 
They  were  the  necessary  conditions  in  the  evolution 
of  a  divine  purpose,  by  which  grand  results  have  been 
wrought  out  for  the  permanent  benefit  of  the  nation. 
The  contest  was  protracted  in  order  to  secure  univer 
sal  liberty,  to  mature  and  intensify  the  sentiment  of 
nationality,  and  to  demonstrate  the  power  of  self-gov 
ernment  inherent  in  the  republic,  before  the  nations  of 


140  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  earth.  All  this  is  now  obvious  to  every  reflecting 
mind.  But  for  the  violent  death  of  our  Chief  Magis 
trate  at  so  important  a  crisis  in  our  history,  we  cannot, 
as  yet,  discover  the  reason.  That  some  wise  design  is 
to  be  answered  by  it,  we  do  not  doubt ;  but  what  it  is 
we  are  unable  to  comprehend.  Clouds  and  darkness 
enshroud  the  providential  dispensation  and  it  becomes 
us  in  Christian  faith  and  submission,  to  bow  rever 
ently  before  the  inscrutable  mystery. 

In  contemplating  the  career  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  we 
cannot  but  discover  the  fostering  character  of  our 
institutions,  and  the  encouragement  held  out  to  native 
talent  and  industry  in  whatever  outward  condition 
they  may  be  found.  Passing  a  portion  of  his  earlier 
years  in  a  section  of  Indiana  which  was  then  an  almost 
uninhabited  wilderness,  he  acquired  among  the  hard 
ships  of  frontier  life,  those  habits  of  self-reliance  and 
persistent  energy  which  became  the  marked  attributes 
of  his  subsequent  character.  He  afterwards  resided 
in  the  state  of  Illinois,  where,  in  1832,  he  took  an  active 
part  in  the  Indian  war  which  so  sadly  disturbed  the 
western  portion  of  the  country.  At  the  close  of  his 
brief  military  service  he  engaged  in  the  study  of  the 
law,  and  by  a  natural  transition,  entered  the  political 
arena  of  the  state.  In  1847  he  became  a  member  of 
the  congress  of  the  United  States,  where  he  acquired 
honorable  distinction  among  his  compeers.  His  power 
as  a  statesman  became  more  fully  known,  in  1858, 
when,  opposed  to  Senator  Douglas — no  mean  antago- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  141 

he  maintained  on  equal  terms  a  protracted 
struggle,  during  which  he  evinced  qualities  of  intellect, 
force  of  reasoning,  comprehensiveness  of  judgment, 
and  ability  to  grasp  and  master  some  of  the  most 
intricate  questions  of  national  policy,  which  attracted 
to  him  the  attention  of  the  nation,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  his  advancement  to  the  high  position  which 
he  so  recently  and  honorably  sustained.  How  humane 
and  how  efficient  the  character  of  that  government, 
which  thus  takes  charge  of  a  child  of  penury  and  toil, 
opens  the  way  for  his  intellectual  and  moral  improve 
ment,  recognizes  and  fosters  his  true  native  worth, 
however  rude  the  outward  garb,  and  places  within  his 
reach  the  highest  position  of  honor  and  trust,  within 
the  gift  of  a  mighty  people  !  Such  is  the  genius  of 
our  institutions.  It  exercises  a  paternal  care  over  all 
its  children,  seeking  to  qualify  each  for  useful  service. 
And  how  beautifully  and  forcibly  is  this  feature  illus 
trated  in  the  history  of  him,  for  whose  death  the  nation 
this  day  sits  in  the  dust  and  refuses  to  be  comforted ! 
A  few  years  since  he  was  a  plain  man,  comparatively 
obscure,  and  possessing  little  more  than  a  mere  local 
notoriety.  But  how  by  the  discipline  of  native  pow 
ers  in  the  conflicts  of  public  life,  during  which  his 
mind  was  in  contact  with  the  profoundest  questions 
and  principles  of  national  policy,  was  he  prepared, 
when  the  great  occasion  demanded  it,  to  loom  up  and 
become  distinguished  among  the  foremost  statesmen 
of  the  world.  What  a  sublime  tribute  to  the  charac- 


142  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

ter  of  our  institutions  !  In  this  country  distinction 
depends  not  upon  contingencies  of  location  or  birth. 
The  road  to  eminence  is  open  equally  to  all,  and  there 
is  no  royal  avenue  to  the  summit.  Here,  intellect  alone 
is  the  secret  of  success,  intellect  well  cultivated  and  well 
balanced,  and  directed  with  persevering  energy  to  the 
accomplishment  of  noble  objects.  Every  American 
youth  may  aspire  to  become  an  American  lord,  a  man 
who  depends  upon  a  higher  distinction  than  an  heredi 
tary  title,  whose  name  is  enrolled  in  nature's  own 
peerage  and  who  carries  the  patent  of  his  nobility  in 
his  intellect  and  his  heart. 

"Were  I  to  attempt  an  analysis  of  the  character  of 
the  lamented  dead,  I  would  not  hesitate  to  accord  to 
him  a  high  measure  of  intellectual  power.  And  by  this  I  do 
not  assert  that  he  possessed  either  brilliancy  of  genius 
or  extended  literary  acquirements,  or  vastness  of  re 
search.  He  was,  for  the  most  part,  a  self-educated 
man,  and  was  indebted  to  the  schools  for  little  more 
than  the  simplest  rudiments  of  education.  With 
natural  capacities  of  a  high  order,  his  mind  acquired, 
amid  the  struggles  of  public  life,  a  culture,  a  vigor 
and  a  breadth  which  no  institution  of  learning  can 
ordinarily  impart.  He  possessed,  to  a  surprising  de 
gree,  the  faculty  of  penetrating  deep  into  the  intrica 
cies  of  theories  and  arguments,  detecting  both  the 
truth  and  the  error  that  might  be  either  magnified  or 
concealed  beneath  the  drapery  of  rhetoric,  or  the 
mystifications  of  false  logic.  He  seems  to  have  had  an 


LINCOLN  MEMOEIAL.  143 

intuitive  insight  into  the  nature  and  relations  of  things, 
a  ready  perception  of  the  bearings  of  measures  and 
policies,  and  could  anticipate  results  with  a  sort  of 
prophetic  foresight.  His  style  was  chaste,  his  words 
were  few  and  well  chosen,  and  his  arguments  pertinent 
and  conclusive.  Practical  wisdom,  or  stern  common 
sense,  which  always  constitutes  the  basis  of  a  sound 
j  udgment  and  of  safe  conclusions,  was  a  preeminent 
attribute  of  his  mind.  He  was  patient  and  deliberate 
in  investigating  measures  and  in  weighing  the  argu 
ments  for  or  against  their  adoption  ;  and  when  he  had 
reached  a  conclusion,  it  partook  of  the  character  of  a 
positive  unchangeable  conviction,  which  resulted  in 
corresponding  action.  No  man  ever  had  greater 
responsibilities  resting  upon  him  than  he.  No  man 
was  ever  called  to  act  in  circumstances  of  greater  per 
plexity,  surrounded  by  counsellors  of  conflicting  views 
and  variant  policies,  and  not  certain  always  who  were 
strictly  loyal,  and  who  were  concealed  traitors.  Yet 
with  a  calm  determination  and  an  unwavering  purpose 
he  pursued  one  steady  course,  met  every  responsi 
bility,  and  during  "the  season  of  the  most  imminent 
peril,  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  nation  in  a  manner 
which  has  elicited  the  admiration  of  the  purest  patriots 
and  the  wisest  statesmen  in  all  parts  of  the  civilized 
world. 

He  possessed  also  a  well  balanced  character.  And 
here,  I  know  not  that  I  can  do  better  than  quote  a 
brief  passage  from  a  recent  writer  who  has  pertinently 
expressed  my  views  on  this  point. 


144  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

"  With  a  unanimity  rarely  equaled,  a  people  who 
had  fought  eight  years  against  a  tax  of  three  pence  on 
the  pound,  and  that  was  rapidly  advancing  to  the 
front  rank  of  nations  through  the  victories  of  peace, — 
a  people  jealous  of  its  liberties  and  proud  of  its  pros 
perity,  has  reflected  to  the  chief  magistracy  a  man 
under  whose  administration  burdensome  taxes  have 
been  levied,  immense  armies  marshaled,  imperative 
drafts  ordered,  and  fearful  suffering  endured.  They 
have  done  this  because,  in  spite  of  possible  mistakes 
and  short-comings,  they  have  seen  his.  grasp  ever 
tightening  around  the  throat  of  slavery,  his  weapons 
ever  seeking  the  vital  point  of  the  rebellion.  They 
have  beheld  him  standing  always  at  his  post,  calm  in 
the  midst  of  peril,  hopeful  when  all  was  dark,  patient 
under  every  obloquy,  courteous  to  his  bitterest  foes, 
conciliatory  where  conciliation  was  possible,  inflexible 
where  to  yield  was  dishonor.  Never  have  the  pas 
sions  of  civil  war  betrayed  him  into  cruelty  or  hurried 
him  into  revenge ;  nor  has  any  hope  of  personal  bene 
fit  or  any  fear  of  personal  detriment  stayed  him  when 
occasion  beckoned.  If  he  has  erred,  it  has  been  on 
the  side  of  leniency.  If  he  has  hesitated,  it  has  been 
to  assure  himself  of  the  right.  Where  there  was  cen 
sure,  he  claimed  it  for  himself;  where  there  was 
praise,  he  lavished  it  upon  his  subordinates.  The 
strong  he  has  braved,  and  the  weak  sheltered.  He 
has  rejected  the  counsels  of  his  friends  when  they 
were  inspired  by  partizanship,  and  adopted  the  sug- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  145 

gestions  of  opponents  when  they  were  founded  on 
wisdom.  His  ear  has  always  been  open  to  the  people's 
voice,  yet  he  has  never  suffered  himself  to  be  blindly 
driven  by  the  storm  of  popular  fury.  He  has  consult 
ed  public  opinion,  as  the  public  servant  should  ;  but 
he  has  not  pandered  to  public  prejudice,  as  only  de 
magogues  do.  Not  weakly  impatient  to  secure  the 
approval  of  the  country,  he  has  not  scorned  to  explain 
his  measures  to  the  understanding  of  common  people. 
Never  bewildered  by  the  solicitations  of  party,  nor 
terrified  by  the  menace  of  opposition,  he  has  controlled 
with  moderation,  and  yielded  with  dignity,  as  the  exi 
gencies  of  the  time  demanded.  Entering  upon  office 
with  the  full  share  of  the  common  incredulity,  per 
ceiving  no  more  than  his  fellow-citizens  the  magni 
tude  of  the  crisis,  he  has  steadily  risen  to  the  height 
of  the  great  argument.  No  suspicion  of  self-seeking 
stains  his  fair  fame ;  but  ever  mindful  of  his  solemn 
oath,  he  seeks  with  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart  the 
welfare  of  the  whole  country.  Future  generations  can 
alone  do  justice  to  his  ability;  his  integrity  is  firmly 
established  in  the  convictions  of  the  present  age."* 

A  just  and  noble  tribute  ! 

I  add,  again,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  evidently 
controlled  in  his  conduct  by  the  high  principles  of 
morality  and  religion.  The  religious  element  seems 
to  have  marked  his  entire  official  career,  and  to  have 
increased  in  strength  and  influence  from  the  day  he 

*  Atlantic  Monthly,  January,  1865. 
19 


146  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

left  Springfield  to  assume  the  presidential  chair  to  the 
hour  when  he  resigned  it,  for,  as  we  trust,  a  nobler 
destiny.  None  of  his  official  predecessors  have  so  fre 
quently  and  devoutly  acknowledged  their  dependence 
upon  the  God  of  nations,  or  have  so  earnestly  re 
quested  the  prayers  of  their  countrymen,  as  he.  He 
was  a  daily  reader  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  seems 
to  have  been  animated  by  the  true  spirit  of  the  gospel. 
By  its  holy  teachings  he  sought  to  be  governed  in  all 
his  outward  relations.  And  I  believe  that  no  one, 
whether  friend  or  foe,  has  ever  questioned  his  moral 
honesty.  No  one  has  ever  insinuated  that  he  sought 
to  use  the  vast  power  entrusted  to  him,  for  purposes 
of  avarice  or  ambition.  His  integrity  was  of  the  na 
ture  of  a  holy,  disciplined  virtue  :  it  was  pure,  unselfish 
and  lofty.  He  was  tried  in  the  furnace,  but  was  not 
burned;  he  breathed  the  malaria  of  corruption,  in 
trigue  and  selfishness,  but  remained  uncontaminated ; 
he  dealt  with  scheming  men  and  heartless  dema 
gogues,  who  in  their  country's  calamities  sought  the 
means  of  their  own  aggrandizement,  but  continued 
firm  in  the  strength  and  simplicity  of  his  uprightness. 
Irritated  and  insulted  at  home  and  abroad,  he  ren 
dered  just  and  equal  dealings  in  return,  with  "malice 
for  none,  and  charity  for  all."  Few  can  read  his  last 
Inaugural  Address,  without  being  impressed  with  the 
deep  religious  tone  which  pervades  it,  and  the  simple 
scriptural  phraseology  in  which  portions  of  it  are  ex 
pressed.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  shadow  of 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  147 

his  own  tragic  end  bad,  for  a  moment,  rented  on  him, 
and  as  if  he  were  inspired  to  leave  to  posterity  a  docu 
ment,  which  the  highest  Christian  statesman  might 
covet  as  the  choicest  memorial  to  attest  his  moral  in 
tegrity  and  simple  piety  on  the  pages  of  history. 

How  consoling  the  hope  we  cherish  at  this  hour  of 
universal  lamentation,  when  everything  around  us  is 
veiled  in  emhlems  of  sorrow,  when  every  sanctuary  is 
filled  with  weeping  multitudes,  and  every  family  is 
stricken  with  a  personal  grief,  that  he,  over  whose 
tragic  fate  countless  myriads  are  pouring  forth  their 
tears,  has  safely  passed  to  that  realm,  where  toil  and 
care  can  never  intrude,  and  where  the  traitor's  bloody 
.hand  can  never  strike  him  more. 

Such  is  the  man  whose  career  has  been  so  sadly  and 
abruptly  terminated.  Seldom  do  the  robes  of  death 
gather  over  a  nobler  victim  !  The  public  loss  is  so 
great,  and  the  chasm  made  in  our  national  councils  is 
so  marked,  that  it  is  by  no  means  surprising  that  every 
thoughtful  mind  becomes  excited  and  appalled  by  the 
contemplation.  And  yet  God,  the  God  of  our  fathers, 
is  the  God  of  their  children.  Great  as  is  the  loss  we 
have  sustained,  still  the  destiny  of  the  country  is  not 
bound  up  in  the  fate  of  any  one  man.  And  perhaps 
we  needed  this  stern  admonition,  to  fix  more  deeply 
in  our  minds  the  salutary  lesson  of  our  absolute  de 
pendence  upon  the  Most  High,  and  to  turn  the  hearts 
of  the  people  more  trustingly  to  Him.  Perhaps  also, 
in  the  midst  of  our  triumphs,  when  about  fully  to 


148  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

realize  results  for  which  we  had  toiled  and  prayed 
and  waited  so  long,  we  were  beginning  to  lose  our 
deep  abhorrence  of  the  crime  of  treason,  and  to  cherish 
a  weak  and  culpable  clemency  toward  the  miscreants 
who  with  fiend-like  ferocit}7  struck  at  the  nation's  life. 
It  may  have  been  necessary,  therefore,  that  the  nation 
should  become  aroused  by  this  last  demonstration  of 
the  spirit  of  rebellion,  and  should  have  a  more  tangi 
ble  proof  of  its  fierce  and  hellish  character.  And  I 
cannot  but  think  that  the  event  of  the  President's 
assassination,  has  gone  far  toward  curing  us  of  a  weak 
and  criminal  leniency  toward  that  spirit  which  origin 
ated  the  bloody  conflict  of  the  last  four  years ;  which 
sought  to  wrap  our  cities  in  the  devouring  flames ; 
which  planned  to  diffuse  the  contagion  of  the  yellow 
fever;  which  refused  quarter  to  our  troops  at  Fort 
Pillow;  which  deliberately  murdered  tens  of  thou 
sands  of  our  gallant  soldiers  by  heat  and  cold  and 
starvation ;  and  which  finally  struck  at  the  Ruler  of 
the  people,  expecting  that  when  he  fell  the  govern 
ment  itself  would  sink  into  anarchy  and  ruin.  And 
when  we  contemplate  the  horrid  features"*of  this  spirit 
of  rebellion,  becoming  darker  and  fiercer,  and  more 
cruel  and  devilish,  through  all  its  successive  manifest 
ations  down  to  the  catastrophe  of  this  fearful  tragedy, 
shall  we  hesitate  to  believe  that  we  are  bound,  by  its 
condign  punishment,  to  vindicate  the  majesty  of  law, 
and  sustain  the  principles  of  eternal  justice  ?  And 
while  this  day,  we  mourn  the  untimely  fate  of  our 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  149 

beloved  Chief  Magistrate,  have  we  not  cause  for  gra 
titude  that  God  has  provided  a  worthy  successor  to 
the  chair  of  state.  He  is  one  who  from  the  com 
mencement  of  the  conflict,  has  stood  "faithful  among 
the  faithless"  in  his  loyalty  to  the  Union.  Sufferings 
and  losses  and  deaths  have  served  only  to  brighten 
and  deepen  and  strengthen  his  patriotic  devotion. 
He  knows,  by  bitter  experience,  what  the  spirit  of 
treason  is  ;  and  I  most  confidently  believe  that  he  has 
been  specially  raised  up,  and  inspired  with  adequate 
energy,  to  grapple  with  it,  and  mete  out  to  it  the  pe 
nalty  which  the  laws  of  God  and  of  man  have  de 
nounced  against  it.  May  He,  who  is  Governor  among 
the  nations,  guide  and  sustain  the  administration  of 
Andrew  Johnson  ! 

Friends,  this  country  is  not  destroyed,  nor  is  it  des 
tined  to  ruin.  The  calamity  which  has  for  successive 
years  fallen  to  our  lot  and  which  has  just  culminated 
in  the  death  of  our  martyr  President,  is  only  purifying 
the  national  character,  intensifying  its  spirit  of 
loyalty,  and  preparing  it  for  a  higher  destiny.  The 
evil  is  only  incidental  and  temporary ;  and  in  view  of 
the  unmistakeable  omens  of  returning  peace  and  pros 
perity,  well  may  smiles  of  gladness  shine  this  day 
through  our  tears  of  sorrow.  We  hail  the  near  ap 
proach  of  the  auspicious  hour,  which  is  to  witness  the 
adjustment  of  our  national  difficulties,  and  the  period 
of  repose  which  is  to  follow,  when  this  fearful  conflict 
shall  be  known  only  on  the  records  of  the  distant  past ; 


150  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

and  when  the  ship  of  state,  having  safely  weathered 
every  shoal  and  tempest,  shall  be  seen  sailing  majes 
tically  in  a  calm  sea,  with  a  law-abiding  and  exulting 
crew,  and  THE  FLAG  OF  THE  'UNION  NAILED  TO  HER 
MAST! 

"  Sail  on,  0  UNION,  strong  and  great  ! 
Humanity  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate ! 
In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar, 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea  ! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee,  —  are  all  with  thee  •!" 

To  the  memory  of  the  pilot  whose  strong  arm 
guided  the  laboring  vessel  through  the  last  four  years 
of  darkness  and  storm  —  during  portions  of  which 
"neither  sun  nor  stars  appeared  for  many  days,"  we 
dedicate  this  sacred  hour.  Abraham  Lincoln  !  thy 
work  on  earth  is  done,  and  thy  country  awards  thee 
the  verdict,  "good  and  faithful  servant!"  Thy  place 
is  secure  in  the  affections  of  a  grateful  people  !  Thy 
name  will  live  untarnished  on  the  records  of  history, 
so  long  as  the  world  shall  continue  to  appreciate  de 
voted  patriotism,  elevated  wisdom,  unbending  integ 
rity,  and  sublime  virtue !  Abraham  Lincoln !  the 
good,  the  noble,  and  the  true,  fare  thee  well ! 

"  Thy  grave  shall  be  a  hallowed  shrine, 

Adorned  with  nature's  brightest  wreath ; 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  151 

JEacli  glowing  season  will  combine 

Its  incense  there  to  breathe ; 
And  oft  upon  the  midnight  air, 
Shall  viewless  harps  be  murmuring  there." 


-SERMON  PREACHED  IN  THE  LIBERTY  STREET 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  (COLORED). 

BY   KEY.    JOSEPH   A.    PRIME. 

And  Saul  also  went  home  to  Gibeah  ;  and  there  went  with  him  a  band  of 
men,  whose  hearts  God  had  touched. 

But  the  children  of  Belial  said,  how  shall  this  man  save  us  ?  And  they 
despised  him,  and  brought  him  no  presents.  But  he  held  his  peace. —  1 
SAMUEL,  x,  26,  27. 

The  events  of  the  past  repeat  themselves  in  the 
history  of  the  present.  What  happened  in  the  days 
of  Saul,  has  taken  place  in  our  own  day,  only  modi 
fied  and  varied  in  some  of  its  circumstances.  In  the 
case  of  Saul,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  he 
was  God-appointed,  to  accomplish  a  certain  work. 
We  have  equal  reason  also,  to  believe  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  designated  by  the  same  divine  power,  to 
perform  a  certain  service,  namely,  the  redemption  of 
the  colored  race  from  slavery. 

As  in  the  days  of  Saul "  there  went  with  him  a 
band  of  men,  whose  hearts  God  had  touched,"  so  in 
our  own  time,  there  has  been  a  faithful  company 
which  has  "stood  by  Abraham  Lincoln  in  his  struggle 
for  right  and  truth.  As  in  those  days  there  were  men 
who  asked  concerning  Saul,  "  How  shall  this  man 
save  us?"  and  despised  him,  so  have  we  seen,  within 


152  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  past  four,  years,  multitudes  who  have  queried  in 
like  manner  as  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  have  refused 
to  recognize  in  him  the  man  commissioned  by  God  to 
work  out  His  great  and  divine  purpose. 

The  occasion  for  which  we  have  met  to-day,  is  to  do 
honor  to  our  martyred  President.  A  great  and  good 
man  has  been  murdered  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin ! 
What  crime  had  he  committed  ?  What  law  had  he 
violated?  Neither  crime  nor  the  violation  of  law 
could  be  laid  to  his  charge,  still  he  was  foully  slaught 
ered.  There  is  nothing  new  in  this.  The  events  of 
all  history  teach  us  that  the  innocent  are  frequently 
sacrificed  by  the  hands  of  the  guilty. 

From  the  story  of  Saul,  as  narrated  in  the  Scriptures, 
we  learn  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  smallest  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel,  and  his  family  the  least  of  all  the 
families  of  that  tribe,  yet  was  he  chosen  king.  The 
ancestors  of  Abraham  Lincoln  were  not  distinguished 
among  men,  yet  was  he  made  President  of  the  United 
States.  Our  greatest  men  whose  lives  and  labors  and 
influence  have  done  most  to  bless  the  world,  have 
but  rarely  been  found  among  those  who  have  been 
rocked  in  the  cradle  of  ease  and  supplied  with 
every  luxury.  E"o,  the  men  who  carry  the  welfare 
of  a  nation  in  their  hearts,  and  stoop  down  to 
lift  up  crushed  and  bleeding  humanity, -are  oftener 
reared  in  humbleness  and  obscurity.  If  we  look  at 
Mr.  Lincoln's  early  history,  we  shall  find  that  he  had 
a  rough  training,  but  at  the  same  time  a  training  that 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  153 

fitted  him  for  the  duties  he  was  called  to  perform,  in 
asmuch  as  it  made  him  self-reliant.  This  preparation 
was  not  obtained  in  the  halls  of  education,  but  amid 
the  plainer  and  more  active  business  of  life,  where 
mind  and  muscle  aid  each  other.  In  this  combined 
strength  lies  the  true  element  of  human  greatness. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  father  and  preserver  of  our 
nation,  who  lifted  up  the  despised  and  the  degraded 
out  of  that  wretched  condition  to  which  pride  and 
caste  had  consigned  them,  is  to  be  ranked  with  "Wash 
ington  the  successful  exponent  of  another  holy  but 
different  mission. 

Slavery,  that  cruel  system,  had  not  only  degraded 
the  black  man  of  the  south,  but  had  rendered  the 
poor  whites  even  more  degraded  and  less  hopeful  of 
future  elevation  than  the  slaves  themselves.  Just  at 
this  crisis  when  the  nation  was  in  its  greatest  peril, 
God  sent  forth  the  modern  Moses  to  deliver  this  peo 
ple  from  that  curse  which  was  sapping  the  foundation 
of  our  public.  The  southern  heart  was  wedded  to 
slavery.  Abraham  Lincoln  saw  what  constituted  the 
strength  of  the  rebellion,  and  he  proclaimed  "  liberty 
to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound."  This  act  increased  the  bitter  spirit 
of  the  south,  and  his  overthrow  was  determined  from 
that  hour.  In  fulfillment  of  this  determination,  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  the  nation's  Chief  Magistrate,  was 
murdered  by  the  hands  of  an  assassin.  Had  he  been 
a  usurper  of  the  place  he  occupied  ;  had  he  exercised 
20 


154  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

his  power  in  the  spirit  of  tyranny  ;  had  lie  inflicted 
heavy  blows  upon  the  innocent;  had  he  refused  to 
listen  to  the  cry  for  meixry,  there  might  have  been 
mitigating  circumstances  to  lessen  the  enormity  of  this 
hellish  and  Grod  forbidden  crime.  But  instead  of  his 
being  guilty  of  any  of  these  acts,  he  must  be  regard 
ed  as  one  of  the  best  and  purest  of  men,  having  the 
most  benevolent  feelings  for  the  welfare  of  the  entire 
race  of  mankind,  of  any  of  those  who  have  filled  the 
presidential  chair  since  our  American  independence 
was  declared.  Washington  was  the  Father  of  our 

O 

country,  Lincoln  was  the  Father  of  our  nation. 

In  some  things  Abraham  Lincoln  is  to  be  regarded 
as  superior  to  Washington.  Especially  is  this  so  in  the 
comprehensive  plans  he  instituted  for  the  happiness  of 
the  inhabitants  of  these  United  States,  irrespective  of 
class  or  condition.  He  wTas  strictly  moral,  untiring 
in  his  labors  of  incorruptible  integrity,  and  free  from 
selfishness.  He  was  simple  and  yet  wonderfully  firm 
and  independent  in  his  manner.  He  was  blessed  with 
great  intuitive  perception  of  truth.  He  was  sagacious  ' 
and  farseeing  in  his  plans,  amiable  in  disposition  and 
meek  in  temper.  These  qualities  prepared  him  for 
almost  any  emergency.  He  was  truly  the  friend  of 
man.  The  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  learned  and  the  unlearned,  could  all  approach  him 
upon  a  common  level  and  find  him  ready  to  hear  their 
statements,  and  sympathize  with  them,  and  they  would 
depart  with  minds  impressed  in  his  favor.  He  had  an 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  155 

appropriate  word  for  every  man.  "With  an  even  balance 
lie  maintained  the  affairs  of  the  nation  in  its  life  strug 
gle.  As  an  exponent  of  American  principles,  a  man 
occupied  the  seat  of  power  who  was  incapable  of 
being  a  tyrant,  and  his  virtues  commended  him  to  the 
people.  His  fame  has  become  universal,  and  I  do 
not  know  but  it  may  "be  said,  that  he  was  the  centre 
of  observation  for  all  foreign  nations  and  countries. 
He  had  the  sympathy  of  millions  upon  millions  who 
only  judged  him  by  his  acts.  No  deeper  gloom  ever 
fell  upon  any  people  than  has  fallen  upon  this  nation 
on  this  occasion.  No  deeper  sorrow  ever  filled  the 
universal  heart  of  the  country  than  that  caused  by  the 
death  of  our  beloved  'President.  The  hearj^  of  the 
nation  has  been  pierced  to  its  very  centre. 

But  there  is  a  class  who  feel  this  death  more  keenly 
than  all  the  other  classes  combined.  It  is  the  colored 
people.  None  mourn  or  lament  more  sincerely  than 
they.  None  feel  that  they  have  lost  so  true  and  tried 
a  friend  as  the  millions  of  bond  and  freed  men  of  the 
south.  He  was  hailed  as  their  great  deliverer.  So 
deeply  had  he  taken  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  into 
his  heart,  and  so  clearly  did  this  fact  appear  to  the 
mind  of  the  slaves,  that  they  declared  him  their 
savior,  sent  to  set  them  free  from  the  cruel  yoke  of 
oppression.  The  rebellion  was  the  direct  out-growth 
of  slavery,  and  the  murder  of  the  President,  is  only 
the  intensified  spirit  of  slavery  personified.  It  was 
slavery  that  killed  our  President,  and  the  blood  of 


156  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  murdered  President  will  cry  out  against  slavery 

as  long  as  there  is  a  bondman  to  sigh  for  freedom. 

But  pause  a  moment.  Cast  your  thoughts  back  to 
the  home  of  our  departed  President,  on  the  eve  of  his 
leaving  for  Washington.  Behold  the  immense  as 
semblage  who  have  gathered  to  bid  him  farewell. 
Well  might  he  look  forward  with  deep  apprehension 
and  say,  "  A  duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is  perhaps 
greater  than  that  which  has  devolved  upon  any  other 
man  since  the  days  of  Washington."  How  well  he 
understood  that  duty,  how  conscientious  he  was  in 
discharging  it,  how  fully  he  relied  upon>  that  Divine 
assistance  without  which  human  effort  is  vain,  all 
know  Tfcho  have  traced  his  career  and  watched  the 
progresss  of  events.  If  the  American  people  have 
reason  to  rejoice  in  the  life  and  labors  of  a  Washing 
ton,  then  the  colored  people  of  our  country  have  a 
much  greater  reason  to  rejoice  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  permitted  to  occupy  the  executive  chair,  as  Chief 
Ruler  of  this  nation. 

Let  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  ever  be  dear  to 
the  colored  race,  for  he,  above  all  other  presidents, 
dared  to  open  his  mouth  for  the  down-trodden  and 
despised.  Let  his  acts,  his  noble  deeds,  be  stamped 
upon  your  inmost  minds.  But  you  are  not  alone  the 
recipients  of  these  benefits  bestowed  by  this  great 
and  good  man.  He  was  the  world's  benefactor, 
Heaven's  gift  to  mankind.  In  the  death  he  died,  he 
has  drawn  all  mankind  to  behold  the  deeds  he  has 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  157 

done.  Abraham  Lincoln  still  lives,  though  murdered 
by  the  foulest  spirit  of  the  lowest  pit.  Let  us  pray 
that  the  mantle  of  our  beloved  and  lamented  Presi 
dent  may  fall  upon  his  successor.  And  let  the 
prayers  of  all  good  men  ascend  to  God  for  the  tho 
rough  healing  of  the  nation.  Amen  and  Amen. 

SERVICE  AT  THE  JEWISH  SYNAGOGUE. 
The  synagogue  of  the  Jewish  congregation,  Anshe 
Chesed,  was  draped  in  mourning.  A  large  audience 
assembled,  comprising  all  the  Hebrews  living  in  the 
city  and  a  great  number  of  Germans  of  other  denomi 
nations.  After  the  introductory  prayer  in  Hebrew, 
the  Thora  (Law  scrolls)  were  unfolded,  and  the  Rev. 
Dr.  H.  G.  Salomon,  the  Eabbi  of  the  congregation, 
delivered  a  most  solemn  sermon,  in  which  he  set  forth 
the  virtues  of  the  late  President  and  directed  atten 
tion  to  the  fact  that  the  whole  north,  though  divided 
in  political  views,  was  united  in  bewailing  the  loss  of 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation  and  in  expressions 
of  respect  for  his  character  and  patriotic  conduct.  He 
alluded  to  the  law  of  Judaism,  which  made  it  in 
cumbent  upon  every  one  professing  that  faith  to  pray 
daily  for  the  welfare  of  the  chieftain  of  the  country, 
and  to  the  effect  produced  by  this  injunction  in  mak 
ing  Israelites  true  and  loyal  citizens.  He  closed  by 
drawing  a  picture  of  the  desolation  and  anarchy  into 
which  the  nation  would  have  been  plunged  if  the 
designs  of  the  conspirators  had  not  been  checked  by 
providence. 


158  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Mr.  Frank  Hartsfeld  then  ascended  the  pulpit  and 
addressed  the  audience  in  substance,  as  follows.  He 
said  there  was  no  parallel  to  be  found  in  history  to 
the  great  crime  over  which  we  mourn,  except  the  as 
sassination  of  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France,  by  Ra- 
vaillac.  Lincoln  ruled  at  a  time  when  the  United 
States  were  divided  by  conspiracy  and  rebellion. 
Henry  reigned  when  France  was  torn  in  pieces  by 
dissensions.  When  the  former  was  inaugurated  he 
was  obliged  to  guard  his  way  to  "Washington,  the  seat 
of  the  government.  The  latter  was  compelled  to 
take  Paris  by  force  before  he  was  crowned  a  king. 
Each  was  a  chieftain  who  was  full  of  love  for  his 
country  and  strove  to  reconcile  contending  parties 
and  establish  peace  on  a  firm  and  lasting  basis. 
When  Henry  was  assassinated  he  was  riding  in  a 
carriage  through  one  of  the  public  streets  of  Paris 
accompanied  by  several  of  his  friends,  and  surrounded 
by  gentlemen  on  horseback  and  running  footmen, 
any  of  whom  would  have  sacrificed  life  for  him. 
Lincoln  was  shot  while  seated  in  a  private  box  at  a 
theatre,  in  company  with  a  party  of  friends  and  sur 
rounded  by  hundreds  of  people  who  would  have 
defended  him  unto  death.  So  sudden  was  the  attack 
on  Henry,  that  those  with  him  did  not  perceive  the 
state  of  the  case,  until  he  fell  forward  after  the  second 
blow  was  struck.  The  fearful  fate  of  Lincoln  was  not 
recognized  until  after  the  murderer  had  escaped, 
liavaillac  was  put  to  the  most  frightful  tortures  and 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  159 

was  condemned  to  the  most  horrible  death.  Booth 
died  miserably,  but  before  the  decrees  of  the  law 
could  overtake  him,  and  the  spot  desecrated  by  his 
foul  body  is  unknown.  Lincoln  was  acknowledged 
to  be  a  good  man,  even  by  his  enemies.  Henry 
possessed  the  love  of  all  classes,  even  of  the  Jesuits 
who  opposed  him.  It  was  Henry's  wish,  often  ex 
pressed,  that  every  peasant  in  France  might  have  a 
chicken  in  his  pot.  Lincoln's  regard  for  the  people 
was  ever  manifesting  itself  in  deeds  of  mercy  and 
love.  As  France  dates  its  greatness  from  the  time  of 
Henry's  reign,  so  will  the  United  States  come  out  of 
the  struggle  now  ending,  in  which  Lincoln's  name 
has  been  preeminent,  the  first  nation  of  the  world. 
Washington's  name  is  identified  with  our  liberty  and 
independence.*  The  name  of  Lincoln  will  be  identi 
fied  with  our  nationality  and  greatness. 

At  the  close  of  this  address,  prayers  were  read  in 
Hebrew,  for  the  immortal  part  of  the  dead.  A  trans 
lation  of  these  prayers  follows.  The  prayers  by  the 
mourner,  were  read  by  the  Rabbi.. 

Mourner.  O  Lord  our  Grod,  King  of  the  universe, 
who  art  merciful  and  gracious  to  the  living,  be  mer 
ciful  and  gracious  to  the  soul  of  thy  servant  Abraham 
Lincoln,  who  has  been  called  from  this  world  to  appear 
before  the  throne  of  thy  holiness.  Remember  him 
with  a  good  memorial  before  thee.  Visit  him  with  the 
visitation  of  salvation  and  mercy.  Let  him  dwell 
amongst  those  just  and  pious  who  dwell  in  the  secret 


160  .  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

place  of  thy  holiness  and  abide  under  the  shadow  of 
thy  glory.  Have  compassion  upon  him  and  inspect 
him  with  thy  benevolent  goodness.  Return  unto  him 
with  the  multitude  of  thy  mercy  for  the  sake  of  the 
just  who  performed  thy  will.  Be  gracious  to  him, 
guard  him  with  thy  endless  kindness,  and  grant  him 
immortality. 

Congregation.  Blessed  art  thou,  0  Lord,  our  God ! 
King  of  the  Universe,  who  art  a  judge. 

Blessed  art  thou,  O  Lord,  our  God !  King  of  the 
Universe,  who  Greatest  in  justice,  maintainest  in  jus 
tice,  slayest  in  justice,  and  bringest  again  into  life  in 
justice.  Blessed  art  thou,  O  Lord,  who  revivest  the 
dead. 

Mourner.  Thou  art  righteous  to  slay  and  to  revive, 
thou  in  whose  hand  is  the  custody  »of  all  spirits  ; 
blessed  be  then  the  righteous  Judge  who  slayeth  and 
reviveth. 

Congregation.  We  know,  0  Lord,  that  thy  judg 
ment  is  righteous;  thou  art  righteous  when  thou 
speakest,  justified  when  thou  judgest,  and  no  one  can 
find  fault  with  thy  manner  of  judging ;  for  thou  art 
righteous  and  thy  judgment  is  just.  The  Lord  gave 
and  the  Lord  hath  taken  ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the 
Lord. 

OTHER  SERVICES. 

At  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Rev.  Dr.  George  C. 
Baldwin,  the  pastor,  spoke  in  eulogistic  terms  of  the 
deceased  President,  and  took  occasion  to  draw  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  161 

parallel  between  the  lessons  taught  by  this  event  and 
the  lessons  taught  by  somewhat  similar  events  in  the 
scriptures. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  E.  "Wentworth,  in  his  discourse,  at 
the  State  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  reminded 
his  hearers  that  no  cup  of  the  Divine  providence  is 
unmixed,  that  good  and  evil  travel  hand  in  hand. 
"The  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln"  said  he,  "resulted 
from  the  death  struggle,  the  expiring  desperation  of 
rebellion,  slavery  and  secession.  We  rejoice  at  the 
destruction  of  these  heresies,  as  much  as  we  mourn 
for  the  loss  of  our  revered  head.  But  slavery  dies 
even  if  it  throttles  the  Chief  Magistrate  with  its  last 
convulsive  clutch."  An  address  was  also  made  on 
this  occasion  by  the  Rev.  S.  Parks. 

In  his  sermon  at  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
pastor,  Rev.  Marvin  R.  Vincent  reminded  his  congre 
gation  that  neither  men  nor  communities  must  fix 
their  faith  upon  any  one  man,  but  remember  that  it 
is  God  who  preserves  nations.  -He  expressed  the 
hope,  that  coming  as  this  death  came,  at  an  holir  when 
the  President  was  winning  almost  universal  favor,  the 
event  might  serve  as  a  lessson  to  recall  us  to  our  sole 
source  of  dependence  —  our  dependence  on  God. 

In  the  Roman  Catholic  Churches  the  occasion  was 
solemnly  observed. 

At  St.  Mary's  Church,  the  services  conducted  by 
Rev.  Peter  Havermans  were  similar  to  those  on  Holy 
Saturday,  and  the  prayers  pro  quacunque  tribulatione, 
"  21 


162  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

prescribed  by  the  rubrics  for  public  calamities  were 
read  in  addition  to  the  usual  collects  of  the  day. 
These  prayers  are  as  follows : 

"Despise  not  Almighty  God,  thy  people  crying  to 
thee  in  affliction  :  but  for  the  glory  of  thy  name  come 
to  their  succour," 

"Receive  mercifully  O  Lord  the  sacrifices  by  which 
it  hath  pleased  thee  to  be  reconciled,  and  by  thy 
powerful  goodness,  to  have  restoTed  safety  to  us." 

"Look  down  mercifully,  we  beseech  thee  O  Lord, 
upon  our  tribulation,  and  turn  away  the  anger  of  thy 
indignation  which  we  have  so  justly  deserved,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  thy  Son,  who  liveth  and  reign- 
eth  with  thee,  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen." 

At.the  end  of  the  high  mass,  the  psalm  Miserere  was 
chanted,  supplicating  God's  mercy  upon  the  congrega 
tion  and  upon  all  people. 

The  service  at  St.  Peter's  Church  consisted  of 
solemn  and  plaintive  chants  by  the  choir,  and  public 
prayers  and  litanies  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  James 
Keveny,  for  the  safety  and  triumph  of  our  beloved 
country  and  the  defeat  and  confusion  of  its  enemies. 
Appropriate  remarks  were  also  made  by  the  pastor, 
sympathizing  with  our  nation  in  this  the  hour  of  her 
trial  and  sad  bereavement,  but  expressing  sentiments 
of  encouragement  also,  at  the  prospect  of  a  bright  and 
glorious  future. 

The  services  at  St.  Joseph's  Church  were  as  follows  : 
"The  altars  were  draped  in  black.  A  catafalque  was 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  163 

placed  opposite  the  main  altar  in  the  centre  aisle. 
Everything  in  the  church  bespoke  mourning  and  sor 
row,  as  befitted  the  solemn  occasion.  The  bell  tolled, 
and  the  people  assembled  in  the  church  to  assist  at  a 
service  which  the  fell  stroke  of  the  assassin's  hand 
made  imperative.  The  pastor,  the  Eev.  Aug.  J.  The- 
baud,  delivered  a  lengthy  discourse  to  his  sorrowing 
flock.  He  spoke  of  the  enormity  of  the  crime  of  mur 
der,  which  was  much  aggravated  when  committed 
against  a  man  invested  with  the  highest  authority  in 
the  land.  He  said  the  crime  had  been  such,  as  to 
make  it  incumbent  on  all  to  endeavor  to  appease  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  to  supplicate  Him  to  spare  the  peo 
ple.  Catholics  especially  should  mourn  on  this  occa 
sion,  because  in  losing  Mr.  Lincoln,  they  had  lost  a 
sincere  friend  and  a  true  lover  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty :  they  should  mourn,  because  murder  is  a 
crime  crying  to  heaven  for  vengeance.  Gratitude 
likewise  called  upon  the  Catholics  to  give  expression 
to  their  sorrow,  for,  through  the  magnanimity  of  the 
people,  and  through  the  wisdom  and  enlightenment 
of  their  chief  magistrates,  the  Catholic  church  has 
been  always  free  in  her  action  in  America. 

""When  the  pastor  had  ended  his  discourse,  the 
church  choir  chanted  in  solemn  and  mournful  notes, 
the  psalm  Miserere.  At  its  conclusion,  the  Rev.  Father 
Thebaud  read  aloud,  prayers  for  the  President,  for 
congress,  for  the  state  legislature,  and  lastly  for  the 
peace,  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  country. 


164        ,  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

When  service  had  been  concluded,  the  people  left  the 
church,  deeply  impressed  with  what  they  had  heard, 
and  more  fully  persuaded  of  the  loss  they  and  the 
country  at  large  had  sustained  in  the  death  of  the 
lamented  President." 

E~o  service  was  held  at  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church, 
the  rector  being  absent  at  the  bedside  of  a  wounded 
brother,  and  at  another  church  the  service  was 
postponed  to  the  day  following.  With  these  excep-. 
tioiis,  it  is  believed  that  impressive  exercises  \vere  held 
in  every  place  of  worship  in  the  city.  These  exercises 
were  similar  in  their  main  features,  consisting  of 
prayer,  hymns,  solemn  music,  scripture  lessons  and 
addresses  or  sermons  suited  to  the  occasion.  The 
black  draperies  which  covered  the  pulpit  and  the  desk 
and  the  altar,  which  swung  festooned  about  the  gal 
leries,  or  hung  in  volumnious  masses  from  the  ceiling, 
or  twined  in  spiral  bands  around  the  columns,  or  flowed 
over  the  facade  of  the  organ,  added  to  the  impressive- 
ness  of  the  scene  and  the  solemnity  of  the  worship. 

The  observance  of  the  day  was  quiet,  but  heartfelt 
and  earnest.  The  solemn  tolling  of  the  numerous 
bells  of  the  city  broke  out  upon  the  stillness  in  saddest 
harmony  with  human  feeling  and  human  thought. 
Emblems  of  mourning,  flags  bordered  with  black, 
crape  from  the  small  fragment  placed  by  the  hand  of 
love  on  the  poor  man's  cottage  to  the  heavy  folds 
draping  in  dark  masses  the  dwelling  of  his  richer 
neighbor,  gave  an  appearance  to  the  city  never  before 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  165 

witnessed.  Sentences  taken  from  the  loved  President's 
last  inaugural  address,  shields,  stars,  tablets  inscribed 
with  words  of  patriotism  or  religion,  pictures  of  the 
great  departed  —  these  were  some  of  the  devices  that 
appeared  on  buildings  both  public  and  private. 

All  shops  and  warehouses  and  offices,*  the  schools 
and  courts,  places  of  business  and  amusement  all  were 
closed.  There  was  no  military  or  other  parade,  and 
the  citizens  who  walked  in  groups  through  the  streets 
appeared  like  the  separated  detachments  of  a  grand 
company  of  mourners.  Never  before  was  there  wit 
nessed  such  a  spontaneous  expression  of  the  grief  of 
the  nation's  heart,  as  on  this  solemn  occasion. 
The  day  with  its  ceremonies,  its  humiliation,  its  reli 
gious  feeling  will  pass  down  on  the  page  of  history  as 
a  fitting  memorial  of  the  love  of  the  people  for  one 
whom  they  respected  for  his  noble  character  and 
devoted  patriotism  while  living,  and  embalmed  with 
their  prayers  and  tears  when  dead. 

THURSDAY,  APEIL  20TH,  1865. 

This  day,  which  prior  to  the  assassination  of  the 
President  had  been  designated  by  the  governor  of  the 
state  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  national  victories, 
and  which  by  a  subsequent  proclamation*  had  been 
set  apart  to  services  appropriate  to  a  season  of  na 
tional  bereavement,  was  not  as  generally  observed 

*  This  proclamation  is  printed  at  pages  28  and  29. 


166  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

in  the  manner  designed,  as  it  would  have  been  had 
not  the  services  of  the  day  previous  anticipated  its 
character  and  solemnities.  Places  of  business,  how 
ever,  were  generally  closed,  and  emblems  of  mourn 
ing  were  apparent  on  buildings  both  public  and 
private. 

At  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  the  occasion 
was  solemnized  as  one  of  humiliation,  praise  and 
prayer.  After  the  reading  of  the  forty-fourth  Psalm, 
the  pastor,  the  Eev.  H.  P.  McAdam,  preached  a 
sermon,  taking  as  his  text  the  first  verse  of  the  one 
hundred  and  first  Psalm,  "I  will  sing  of  mercy  and 
judgment." 

A  service  similar  in  character  was  conducted  by  the 
Rev.  D.  S.  Gregory,  at  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  several  other  churches  the  day  was 
solemnized  by  acts  of  worship. 

FRIDAY,  APRIL  21ST,  1865. 

RESOLUTIONS    OF   THE    BOARD    OF    SUPERVISORS   OF 
RENSSELAER  COUNTY. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  was 
held  on  Friday,  April  21st,  1865,  for  the  purpose  of 
signing  tax-warrants.  Previous  to  adjourning,  Gen. 
Martin  Miller  offered  the  following  resolutions, 
which  were  adopted. 

Whereas,  We  are  all  aware  of  the  murder  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States, 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  167 

and  of  the  attempted  assassination  of  Wm.  H.  Sew- 
ard,  Secretary  of  State.  And 

Whereas,  It  becomes  us  as  a  public  body  to  give  ex 
pression  to  those  sentiments  of  sorrow  and  profound 
regret  which  fill  the  heart  of  each  individual  of  this 
community.  Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  by  this  unmitigated  and  unparalleled 
atrocity  our  nation  is  called  upon  to  mourn  the  un 
timely  end  of  one  in  whom  were  centered  the  highest 
hopes  of  an  anxious  and  expectant  people,  one  who 
gave  bright  promise  through  his  meritorious,  wise 
and  liberal  action  to  bring  to  a  speedy  termination 
those  difficulties  which  have  agitated  this  great  and 
powerful  nation  for  the  past  four  years.  But  He  who 
controllet'h  the  destinies  of  all,  willed  it  otherwise, 
before  whom  let  us  bow  with  meek  submission, 
knowing  that  this  event  has  been  permitted  for  some 
wise  purpose  as  yet  unintelligible  to  man. 

Resolved,  That  instead  of  accomplishing  the  fell 
purpose  at  which  the  instigators  and  perpetrators  of 
this  foul  and  damnable  deed  aimed,  they  have  opened 
the  eyes  of  those  who  might  otherwise  have  remained 
olind  to  the  interests  and  welfare  of  our  beloved 
country,  strengthened  the  hands  of  those  who  to-day 
are  defending  its  cause  and  consigned  themselves  to 
an  inglorious  and  infamous  end. 

Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  preambles  and  resolu 
tions  be  spread  upon  the  journal  of  this  board,  and 
published  in  the  papers  of  the  county. 


168  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

On  motion,  the  Board  resolved  to  attend  the  obse 
quies  of  President  Lincoln  when  his  remains  should 
pass  through  Albany,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  such  attend 
ance.  The  Board  adjourned  to  meet  on  the  morning 
of  the  26th  inst,  at  nine  o'clock,  at  the  Court  House. 
HIRAM  D.  HULL,  Chairman. 

T.  S.  BANKER,  Clerk. 

SATURDAY,  APRIL  22D,  1865. 
'"  Sic  SEMPER  TYRANNLS." 

BY    E.    H.    G.    CLARK. 

"  Sic  semper  tyrannis"  vile  southron  ? 

You  murdered  your  own  truest  friend  ! 
And  may  God  now  have  pity  for  traitors  — 

Man's  patience  has  come  to  an  end ! 

"  Sic  semper  tyrannis"  0  madman  ? 

He  marshalled  to  freedom  a  race  ! 
He  led  us  to  battle  with  tyrants; 
To  dare  look  the  right  in  the  face  ! 

"  Sic  semper  tyrannis"  assassin  ? 
Behold  a  whole  nation  in  black  ! 
And  hark  to  the  curse  of  its  millions 
That  rumbles  along  your  track  ! 

"  Sic  semper  tyrannis" —  0  Heaven  ! 

That  motto  for  slavery's  knife  ; 
While  died  the  great  servant  of  freedom, 

As  martyrdom  sainted  his  life  ! 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  169 

"  Sic  semper  tyrannis" —  G-od  help  us 

To  bear  it  —  the  deed  and  the  loss  ] 
The  crime  that  has  scarcely  been  mated 
Since  Jesus  was  nailed  to  the  cross  ! 


"  Sic  semper  tyrannis" —  Our  Father 

In  Heaven,  we  swear  unto  Thee, 
Once  more  over  him  thou  hast  taken, 
All  men  shall  be  equally  free ! 

Troy  Daily  Times. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

BY  JULIA  ADELAIDE  BURDICK. 

(i  Hung  be  the  heavens  ivilh  black." 

Bring  the  censer  and  shake  it  gently,  bring  the  bell 
and  toll  it  solemnly,  bring  the  psalm  and  chant  it 
mournfully.  Bring  the  flag  and  lower  it,  bring  the 
di;um  and  muffle  it,  bring  the  fife,  the  bugle  and  the 
instruments  all,  and  pour  out  a  requiem  over  him  who 
has  fallen  in  the  morning  of  his  glory. 

Our  foes  are  flying,  but  our  chieftain  has  fallen.  It 
is  a  shame  not  to  rejoice  when  victory  perches  upon 
our  banners,  but  it  is  a  sin  not  to  weep  when  our 
standard  bearer  is  slain.  It  is  base  not  to  greet  with 
acclamations  the  living  who  lived  to  witness  their  tri 
umphs,  but  it  is  cruel  not  to  mourn  the  dead  who  died 
in  sight  of  what  they  died  for.  It  is  right  to  sing 
and  shout  in  honor  of  those  who  have  passed  the 

furnace  without  the  smell  of  fire  on  their  garments, 

22 


170  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

but  it  is  no  loss  just  to  sigh  and  carry  cypress  in  me 
mory  of  those  whom  the  flames  consumed. 

In  the  entrenchments,  along  the  banks  of  the  James, 
on  the  field  before  Richmond  our  heroes  have  fallen, 
while  bullets  whistled,  blood  gushed,  hearts  broke, 
the  heavens  blackened,  and  the  earth  shook  with  the 
wrestle  of  mad  armies  thundering  and  clashing  to- 

O  O 

gether  in  deadly  combat.  Not  a  hero  suffered  there 
for  naught,  not  a  precious  breath  fluttered  out  from 
its  frail  tenement  in  vain,  for  thus  were  our  great  but 
costly  victories  won.  But  he,  the  pride,  the  hope, 
and  the  glory  of  the  nation  ;  in  the  midst  of  an  assem 
bly  radiant  with  beauty,  glorious  in  intellect,  and  full- 
hearted  with  happiness,  without  an  instant's  warning, 
saw  the  unstable  earth  melt  and  vanish  away,  and  the 
golden  portals  of  eternity  open  before  the  dissolving 
pageantry  of  life.  With  laurels  nobly  won  yet  green 
on  his  brow,  at  a  moment  when  the  angel  of  peace 
was  spreading  her  white  wings  over  the  land,  and  it 
seemed  that  the  last  victim  had  been  sacrificed  on  the 
altar  of  liberty,  God  in  his  infinite  wisdom  saw  fit  to 
remove  from  among  us,  him  who  for  four  weary  years 
of  war  and  desolation  had  been  our  buckler  and  our 
shield,  our  fortress  and  our  strong  defence. 

Alas  that  I  can  say  nothing  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
which  will  not  be  far  better  said  many  times,  ere  the 
shudder  of  this  sad  calamity  will  have  passed  from 
our  hearts  !  But  it  is  no  less  a  blessed  privilege  to  me 
than  to  others,  to  be  permitted  to  offer  my  simple  tri- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  171 

bute  of  love  and  sorrow  to  the  memory  of  departed 
greatness;  and  while  the  anguish  of  my.  soul  refuses 
to  be  allayed  in  silence,  it  would  be  hard  indeed,  were 
I  farced  to  crush  back  the  rising  tears,  or  repress  the 
lamentations  crowding  to  my  lips.  Who  that  loves 
his  country,  but  will  weep  in  this,  her  hour  of  deep 
distress?  What  heart  so  insensible  to  the  claims  of 
unaffected  greatness,  or  so  unmoved  by  the  example 
of  a  patriotism  so  exalted  as  his,  that  it  will  refuse  to 
mourn  that  a  cruel  and  violent  death  has  taken  from 
the  nation  he  served  so  faithfully,  the  greatest  and 
best  man  of  the  age  ? 

Never  within  the  memory  of  living  man  has  a 
President  been  so  loved.  Despite  the  ridicule  of  little 
minds,  in  the  face  of  every  injurious  device  that 
malignity  could  conceive,  and  tried  by  every  test 
that  constant,  harrassing  hatred  could  invent  or 
apply,  surrounded  by  enemies  at  home,  and  men 
aced  by  foes  from  abroad,  he  conquered  every  pre 
judice,  surmounted  every  obstacle  and  enshrined 
himself  in  the  very  hearts  of  the  people.  The  respect 
he  won  the  first  year  became  admiration  the  second, 
warmed  into  confidence  the  third,  and  finally  culmi 
nated  in  something  almost  sinfully  allied  to  adoration 
the  fourth  and  last.  Not  only  did  he  compel  those 
who  thought  ill  of  him  to  think  well,  and  those  who 
thought  well  to  think  better  ;  but,  in  many  a  notable 
instance,  his  bitterest  opponents  he  converted  into 
staunch  supporters.  Every  candid  mind  acknow- 


172  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

lodged  his  worth,  every  loyal  tongue  spoke  his  praise. 
He  lived  to  see  the  clay  dawn  when  the  wisdom  of  the 
course  he  had  unwaveringly  pursued  was  becoming 
apparent  to  the  world ;  but  it  is  reserved  i?or  the  light 
of  the  future  to  illuminate  the  mighty  intellect  which 
was  just  beginning  to  make  its  latent  strength  felt 
when  its  great  plans  were  suddenly  arrested,  and  its 
giant  working  stilled  forever. 

It  is  no  discredit  to  his  memory  to  say  that  four 
years  ago  many  an  anxious  heart  trembled  for  the 
strength  of  the  untried  arm  that  was  to  pilot  the  ship 
of  state  in  her  perilous  course  against  the  head  winds 
.  already  whistling  through  her  canvass,  and  over  the 
breakers  even  then  angrily  hurling  themselves  athwart 
her  pathway.  The  farmer  boy,  the  rail  splitter,  the 
flat  boatman,  the  humble  western  lawyer,  would  he 
stand  unaffrighted  when  the  shock  of  war  should 
come  and  he  should  know  not  friend  from  foe,  and  his 
enemies  should  be  they  of  his  own  household  ?  How 
needless  were  our  fears  !  Of  just  such  rugged  mate 
rial  are  heroes  made.  When  the  storm  burst  in  all 
its  fury,  when  the  heavens  hurled  their  doom  in 
thunderbolts  and  lightning  flashes,  which  fell,  not 
harmless,  as  thousands  of  known  and  unknown 
graves  and  the  countless  host  of  broken  lives  and 
mourning  hearthstones  will  attest,  but  impotent  to 
work  the  evil  they  sought,  he  for  whom  our  fears 
were  marshalled  in  dread  array  stood  undaunted  amid 
the  smoking  ruins.  From  that  hour  to  this,  our  trust 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  173 

has  never  for  a  single  moment  faltered  nor  sought  any 
other  source  of  support. 

How  wise  and  conciliatory  were  the  offers  of  par 
don  he  tendered  to  the  rebellious  states  during  the 
first  year  of  the  war,  yet  how  firmly  again  and  again 
was  the  determination  repeated  to  forcibly  subdue 
them  if  they  would  not  peacefully  return  to  their  al 
legiance.  The  hand  held  out  to  the  penitent 
proffered  the  gentle  clasp  of  a  friend,  but  the  finger 
tightening  around  the  heart  of  the  traitor  had  the 
hardness  of  steel.  Futile  was  each  generous  appeal, 
and  futile  he  doubtless  felt  they  would  be,  feut  they 
were  the  fitting  expressions  of  that  thoughtful  care  for 
friends,  and  boundless  magnanimity  to  foes,  which 
would  have  provided  for  the  safety  of  the  loyal  by  the 
same  humane  measure  which  would  instigate  the 
punishment  of  the  disloyal.  It  was  this  broad  hu 
manity  more  than  anything  else  except  the  purity  of 
his  "motives,  and  the  rare  simplicity  of  his  nature, 
which  endeared  him  to  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 
The  same  clemency  that  marked  the  first  acts  of  his 
official  life  characterized  them  until  the  day  of  his 
death.  Even  when  the  fatal  bullet  was  being  made 
ready  for  its  unconscious  victim,  his  noble  heart  was 
busy  planning  and  providing  for  the  future  welfare  of 
his  enemies.  Even  when  the  brutal  plot  that  termi 
nated  his  existence  was  in  process  of  -completion,  he 
was  seeking  the  guidance  of  heaven,  and  the  assist 
ance  of  the  best  counsels  of  the  nation  to  enable  him 


174  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

to  decide  how  far  consistently  with  his  duty  as  the 
dispenser  of  righteous  punishment,  he  could  exercise 
the  power  of  restoring  to  their  olden  privileges  the 
misguided  foes  of  the  country  their  madness  so  nearly 
destroyed. 

Oh,  when  shall  we  see  his  like  again  ?  There  has 
no  good  thing  ever  been  spoken  of  any  man  living  or 
dead  which  may  not  truly  be  said  of  him.  What  if 
the  casket  were  plain  and  unpolished?  The  jewel  it 
enclosed  was  as  pure  as  the  Mountain  of  Light. 
Firm,  yet  gentle;  severe,  yet  just;  inflexible  in  the 
right,  yet  never  obstinate  in  the  wrong;  pure  minded, 
unselfish ;  grateful  to  his  friends ;  magnanimous  to 
his  foes  ;  true  to  himself  and  true  to  his  country;  so 
might  we  go  on  enumerating  his  virtues,  and  still  leave 
some  grace  of  spirit  unmentioned  though  the  cata 
logue  were  never  so  long.  "Honest  Abe,"  homely 
though  the  title  may  be,  there  was  never  a  truer  one 
bestowed  upon  man,  or  one  more  surely  destined  to 
immortality.  When  they  who  have  spoken  ill  of  him 
are  the  dust  of  the  earth ;  when  his  maligners  are 
mouldering  in  their  forgotten  graves;  when  oblivion 
rests  upon  the  memory  of  those  who  heaped  sorrow 
upon  his  head ;  when  they  who  wrought  his  destruc 
tion  are  remembered  only  with  loathing,  and  their 
names  uttered  with  a  shudder,  then  side  by  side  with 
that  of  George  Washington  will  the  unsullied  name 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  be  written,  and  while  the  one 
remains  the  great  and  good  Father  of  his  Country, 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  175 

the  other  will  bear  the  no  less  illustrious  title  of  the 
Saviour  of  his  Country. 

How  is  our  joy  turned  into  mourning  !  The  bells 
that  have  been  ringing  the  notes  of  gladness,  are 
clanging  in  consonance  with  the  unutterable  woe  that 
fills  every  heart.  The  flags  that  have  been  flaunting 
the  glorious  tidings  of  victory,  are  draped  with  the 
gloomy  emblems  of  mourning.  All,  all  is  sorrow  and 
gloom.  Bring  the  censer  and  shake  it  gently,  bring 
the  bell  and  toll  it  solemnly,  bring  the  psalm  and 
chant  it  mournfully.  Bring  the  flag  and  lower  it, 
bring  the  drum  and  muffle  it,  bring  the  fife,  the  bugle 
and  the  instruments  all,  and  pour  out  a  requiem  over 
the  noblest  victim  ever  sacrificed  to  appease  fiendish 
hate. —  Troy  Daily  Times. 

A  DIRGE  FOE  WEDNESDAY,  APRIL  19,  1865. 

BY    A.    S.    PEASE. 

Toll !  toll !  the  solemn  bell ! 
And  as  the  dirges  swell 

On  the  sad  air, 
Let  every  voice  be  dumb. 
Let  every  heart  be  still ; 
Let  every  bosom  thrill 

Only  with  prayer. 

Great  God  of  Liberty ! 
Humbly  we  pray  to  Thee  : 

Hear  us  to-day : 
Save  Thou  our  native  land. 
Save  by  Thy  mighty  power. 
'  Cheer  us.     In  this  dark  hour, 

Turn  not  away. 
23 


176  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Drape  every  heart  in  griefr 
Sad  that  our  Nation's  chief, 

Loved  and  revered, 
Dead  from  the  Capitol, 
Goes  to  his  silent  rest, 
By  all  the  people  blest, 

Solemnly  bier'd. 

Muffle  the  rousing  drum  ; 
Stifle  the  busy  hum 

Of  daily  strife. 

Keep  down  the  bitter  thought. 
Out  of  this  fearful  grief 
(God  give  our  hopes  relief,) 

Get  we  new  life. 

High  let  our  eagle  soar; 
Loud  let  the  cannon  roar, 

No  more  to  cease. 
Shrill  blow  the  bugle  blast. 
Plain  in  the  air  are  heard, 
By  every  leaf  that's  stirred, 

Whispers  of  peace. 

Great  God  of  Liberty  ! 
God   of  Prosperity  ! 

Hear  us,  we  pray  : 
Spare  us  our  life  and  laws. 
Empty  all  hearts  of  hate ; 
All  of  War's  ills  abate. 

Bless  us  to-day. 

Troy  Daily  Press. 


During  the  afternoon  of  this   day,  the  Hon.  Uri 
Gilbert,  Mayor  of  the  city,  received  the  following  note. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  177 

Albany,  April  22. 

To  the  Mayor  of  Troy  : 

The  common  council  committee  of  this  city,  having 
in  charge  the  arrangements  for  the  obsequies  of  the 
late  President  Lincoln,  on  Wednesday  next,  have 
directed  that  an  invitation  be  extended  to  your  muni 
cipal  authorities,  and  through  you,  to  the  various 
military  and  fire  companies,  and  also  the  civic  and 
religious  associations  of  your  city,  to  unite  in  the  cere 
monies.  You  will  please  communicate  your  intention 
to  John  Tracey,  chairman  of  the  committee. 

J.  0.  CUYLER,  Secretary. 

The  mayor  caused  this  note  to  be  published  soon 
after  its  reception,  and  announced  generally  to  those 
named  in  it,  the  invitation  it  contained.  He  also  noti 
fied  a  meeting  of  the  common  council,  to  be  held  on 
the  Monday  next  following. 

ORDER  OF  THE  NATIONAL  GUARD. 

HEAD  QRS.,  24TH  REGT.,  N.  Y.  S.  N.  G-.,  \ 
Troy,  XT.  Z,  April  22d,  1865.        j 

GENERAL  ORDER  No.  12. 

The  regiment  will  parade  on  Wednesday,  the  26th 
inst.,  for  the  purpose  of  participating  in  the  obsequies 
of  the  late  lamented  President  of  the  United  States. 

Commandants  of  companies  will  report  with  their 
commands  at  their  armories,  fully  uniformed  and 
equipped,  at  8  o'clock  A.  M.  of  that  day.  Field  and 


178  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

staff  will  report  at  the  colonel's  quarters  at  the  same 
hour.  The  regimental  band,  Capt.  Doring,  and  the 
drum  corps,  Drum  Major  Perkins,  will  report  to  the 
Adjutant,  at  the  hour  before  mentioned.  Command 
ants  of  companies  will  be  notified  by  the  Adjutant  011 
the  morning  of  the  parade  as  to  the  the  formation 
of  the  line.  Quartermaster  Church  will  provide  the 
transportation. 

The  regimental  battery  will  accompany  the  parade. 
Capt.  Landon,  commanding  A  Co.,  will  make  such 
arrangements  as  may  be  necessary. 

Commandants  of  armories  will  cause  the  colors 
to  be  displayed  at  half-staff  at  8  o'clock  A.  M.  on  the 
26th  inst.,  and  to  remain  at  half-staff  till  their  com 
mands  return  to  their  quarters. 

The  attention  of  officers  is  again  called  to  General 

Order  No.  10.     By  order. 

ISAAC  McCoNiHE  JR., 

GURDON  G.  MOORE,  Adj.  Col.  Com. 

SUNDAY,  AfBIL  23D,  1865. 
IN  MEMORIAM 

au*. 

BY   B.    H.    HALL. 

Strong  in  the  strength  of  common  sense : 
Fettered  by  naught  but  right's  own  rules ; 
With  wisdom  blessed  above  the  schools, 

And  void  of  sham  and  false  pretence  ; 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  179 

Finding  in  every  human  face 

Some  image  of  the  source  of  all, 

Hearing  in  every  bondman's  call 
The  suppliance  of  a  common  race ; — 

Thus  armed,  in  blackest  hour  of  hate, 

Obedient  to  a  people's  voice 

And  sacre,d  by  a  people's  choice, 
He  came  to  guard  and  save  the  state. 

He  waited,  suffering  long  the  rage 

That  strove  the  nation's  heart  to  pierce, 
And  watched,  till  treason's  madness  fierce 

At  Sumter  cast  the  rebel  gage. 

Then  to  his  summons  forth  there  came 
Brave  Northern  men  with  hurrying  tread, 
Fired  with  a  vengeance  grand  and  dread, 

To  vindicate  the  nation's  fame. 

They  left  the  busy  marts  of  trade, 
They  left  the  anvil  and  the  plough, 
And  their  sweet  lives,  with  solemn  vow, 

On  their  dear  country's  altar  laid. 

Then  through  long  years  of  deadliest  strife  — 
Our  banner  trodden  in  the  dust — 
Lincoln,  with  simple,  childlike  trust. 

Stood  firm  to  save  the  nation's  life. 

He  never  yielded  hope  nor  heart. 

Pierced  with  the  shaft  of  bitter  hate, 

He  chose  with  kindest  soul  to  wait, 
And  hide  the  venom  of  the  dart. 

He  could  not  sink  to  motives  base, 
Nor  seek  a  good  by  doubtful  ends ; 


180  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

But  weighed  the  counsel  of  his  friends, 
And  looked  above  for  light  and  grace. 

Then  Truth  revealed  her  godlike  form, 
And  Slavery  fell,  no  more  to  rise, 
Crushed  by  the  fiat  of  the  skies, 

Dying  amid  the  battle  storm. 

Man,  bound  in  gyves  of  grief  and  pain 
For  crime  of  color  or  of  birth, 
Rose  from  the  common  mother  earth, 

Freed  from  the  dark,  inhuman  stain. 

Out  from  unnumbered  voices  poured 
The  anthem  sweet  of  freedom's  song, 
Of  right  triumphant  over  wrong, 

From  man  redeemed  to  Grod  adored. 

Then  one  by  one  the  strongholds  fell 
Where  treason  long  had  held  her  seat, 
While  he,  so  calm  amid  defeat, 

In  triumph,  checked  the  exultant  swell. 

Thus  victory  came  to  be  our  friend, 
And  hope  inspired  the  longing  view 
With  vision  of  a  heavenly  hue  — 

The  omen  of  a  peaceful  end. 

Then  sped  that  midnight  message  dread, 
Borne  madly  on  the  electric  wire, 
Burning  its  way  on  wings  of  fire, 

That  he  who  loved  "us  all  was  dead. 

On  that  black  day  that  saw  thee  slain 
Oh  Christ !  that  sinful  man  might  live, 
That  noble  soul  which  thou  did'st  give 

Passed  from  a  murdered  body's  pain  ! 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  181 

On  that  white  day,  when  to  the  sun 

Again  from  Sumter's  ruins  rose 

Our  country's  flag,  by  fiercest  foes 
This  deed  of  damning  guilt  was  done! 

Crowned  with  a  never  ending  fame, 

Encircled  by  a  nation's  love, 

A  martyr  here,  a  saint  above, 
Be  erery  honor  done  his  name. 

Oh  Glod  !  a  nation  prostrate  lies, 
And  supplicates  Thy  favoring  care : 
Make  answer  to  its  wrestling  prayer. 

And  bid  it  in  Thy  strength  arise. 

Then  shall  these  brooding  clouds  of  night, 
That  cast  their  shadow  o'er  our  way, 
Dissolve  before  the  brightening  day, 

And  leave  us  in  Thy  blessed  light. 

Troy  Neics. 
April  19,  1865. 


SERMON  PEEACHED  IN  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

•    BY    REV.    MARVIN    R.    VINCENT. 

Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen  this  day  in 
Israel?— -2  SAMUEL,  iii,  38. 

The  events  of  history  are  often  like  figures  in  relief. 
"We  see  but  one  side  of  them,  that  which  the  artist 
chooses  to  represent.  But  this  is  not  an  universal 
truth.  Some  events  have  a  dramatic  interest  inherent 
in  them.  They  are  independent  of  the  artist.  Though, 
like  the  sculptor  who  would  hew  Mount  Athos  into 
the  figure  of  a  recumbent  giant,  the  historian  may 
mould  and  drape  and  soften  the  lines,  yet  as  the 


182  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

mountain,  spite  of  the  sculptor's  work,  would  have 
been  a  mountain  still,  so  such  events  stand  out  from 
their  age,  bearing  their  own  character  and  speaking 
for  themselves  under  all  the  misrepresentations  of 
history.  They  convey  their  own  great  lesson.  They 
resolutely  strip  from  themselves  all  palliations. 

Concurrent  events,  moreover,  have^  often  much  to 
do  with  the  sharpness  with  which  these  historic  eras 
or  incidents  are  cut.  Often  the  accumulated  senti 
ment  and  action  of  a  whole  cycle  concentrate  and 
find  expression  in  a  single  event  which  henceforth 
becomes  typical  of  the  cycle.  Often  the  condensed 
power  of  a  century  is  behind  a  word  or  a  blow. 
Often,  too,  contemporary  events  are  so  disposed  as  to 
heighten  to  the  utmost  the  effect  of  a  single  deed,  and 
to  form  a  background  against  which  its  lines  come 
out  with  preternatural  sharpness. 

If  these  characteristics  ever  united  in  any  event, 
they  do  so  in  that  which  brings  us  here  to-day.  Death 
is  not  a  new  event.  Death  in  high  places  is  not  a 
strange  thing,  even  to  us  who,  twice  before  this,  have 
been  called  to  mourn  over  the  nation's  chief  magis 
trate.  Even  death  under  such  circumstances  is  not 
unheard  of  nor  uncommon.  Not  to  us  alone  attaches 
the  stigma  of  a  murdered  ruler.  But  this  event  is 
nevertheless  instinct  with  a  horror  and  with  a  signifi 
cance  independent  of  our  nearness  to  it,  and  our 
practical  connection  with  it.  It  concentrates  in  itself 
the  elements  of  one  fearful  phase  of  our  national  life. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  183 

It  is  its  natural  offshoot,  its  pet  child,  its  crowning 
development  of  horror,  its  grand  expression  before 
the  civilized  world.  And,  at  the  same  time,  concur 
rent  circumstances  are  such  as  to  define  its  lines  more 
sharply.  In  many  instances,  as  I  have  already  said, 
even  the  assassination  of  a  man  in  power  does  not 
impress  us  like  this  event.  In  so  many  instances  the 
man  owes  his  consequence  only  to  his  position.  So 
much  coloring  is  given  to  the  deed  by  his  tyranny  or 
inefficiency.  So  many  conflicting  interests,  whose 
claims  history  gives  us  no  means  of  estimating,  have 
been  eddying  round  him,  and  the  moral  basis  of  the 
a^e  has  been  so  rotten  and  wavering",  the  moral  senti- 

O  O 7 

ment  of  the  age  so  perverted,  that  that  event  seems 
but  in  harmony  with  surrounding  events.  But  here  it 
is  otherwise.  The  nation  since  its  rise,  and  more  rapidly 
within  the  last  four  years,  has  been  developing  a 
process  of  grouping.  On  one  side  of  the  line  have 
been  ranging  themselves  order,  the  government  of 
reason  and  not  of  passion,  fair  and  open  discussion, 
patriotism,  loyalty,  devotion  to  the  morals  rather  than 
to  the  politics  of  government.  As  an  exponent  of 
these  principles,  a  man  occupied  the  seat  of  power 
who  could  not,  if  he  would,  have  been  a  tyrant,  and 
who  would  not  if  he  could ;  a  man  whose  virtues 
commended  themselves  to  the  people,  whose  policy 
commanded  their  confidence  and  their  endorsement. 
Breaking  sharply  off  from  such  sentiments  appeared 
another  group,  representing  treason,  disloyalty,  im- 
24 


184  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

patience  of  control,  passion,  disregard  of  the  princi 
ple  of  majority  rule,  oppression  of  the  weak,  deeper 
degradation  of  the  degraded,  its  principles  represented 
by  factious  demagogues  who  would  rather  "  rule  in 
hell  than  serve  in  heaven."  2s"o  distinction  was  ever 
clearer.  Ever  diverging  more  and  more,  these  two 
developments  have  gone  on  since,  the  foundation  of 
the  republic,  until  at  last  the  distinction  has  culminated. 
The  one  side  has  exhausted  its  venom  in  this  crowning 
atrocity,  and  placed  it  in  such  startling  relief  against 
the  virtues  of  the  victim  and  the  great  order-loving, 
liberty-loving,  rebellion-hating,  humanity-cherishing 
sentiment  of  the  nation,  as  henceforth  to  stamp  the 
act  and  that  of  which  it  was  the  product  with  a 
character  which  no  future  historian  will  dare  to  palli 
ate,  and  to  insure  to  them  a  detestation  the  bitterness 
of  which  shall  be  intensified  with  every  succeeding 
generation.  God  has  forestalled  the  judgment  of 
history,  and  on  this  act,  at  least,  its  decision  shall  be 
unanimous. 

There  then  stands  the  fact  in  its  terrific  proportions. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States,  has 
been  foully  murdered  by  an  assassin.  Truly  the  mur 
derer  must  have  well  studied  the  eifect  of  contrasts. 
Had  the  deed  been  done  when,  as  it  is  said,  it  was 
first  contemplated,  it  might  have  harmonized  some 
what  better  with  the  confusion  which  swayed  the 
popular  mind,  with  the  anxiety  respecting  the  still 
unfinished  conflict,  and  the  still  menacing  rebellion. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  185 

But  this  had  passed.  Victory  had  perched  upon  the 
banners  of  our  brave  generals.  The  routed  army  of 
the  confederacy  had  laid  down  its  arms.  The  pseudo 
president  had  abandoned  his  capital  and  fled,  none 
knew  whither.  The  land  was  gay  with  waving  ban 
ners  and  vocal  with  the  thunder  of  cannon  and  the 
pealing  of  bells  ;  and  the  President,  a  man  of  the 
people,  was  rejoicing  with  the  people.  For  the  mo 
ment 

"Grim  visaged  war  bad  smoothed  his  wrinkled  front." 

For  a  moment  the  nation  that  had  sailed  so  long  under 
the  gloomy,"  bristling  headlands  of  war,  had  caught 
a  glimpse  of  a  calm,  open  bay,  with  the  sun  of  peace 
shining  down  on  its  green  encircling  hills.  And  for 
an  hour  the  man  whose  shoulders  had  borne,  for  over 
four  years,  the  heaviest  burden  ever  placed  upon  any 
ruler,  the  man  whose  unceasing  vigilance  had  been  in 
demand  to  guide  the  vessel  of  state  through  such 
tortuous  channels  and  around  such  reefs  as  never 
threatened  nation  before,  for  an  hour  he  had  laid  aside 
the  cares  of  state :  for  an  hour  he  had  said  "  Good 
bye  to  pain  and  care:"  for  an  hour  he  had  forgotten 
the  nation's  burden  and  given  himself  up  to  the  cur 
rent  of  the  nation's  joy.  And  in  that  hour  of  grateful 
relaxation  the  blow  fell.  The  assassin,  inspired  with 
hellish  daring,  threw  his  life  upon  the  issue,  and  to-day 
the  nation  mourns  his  success. 

I  will  not  dwell  upon  the  horrible  fact.     It  is  my 


186  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

duty  to-day  to  gather  up  its  lessons  as  far  as  may  be ; 
and  I  go  "back  now  to  my  introductory  thought,  that 
some  of  the  deeds  of  history  are  the  concentrated 
expression  of  a  long  train  of  previous  events,  giving 
in  their  expression  a  typical  character  to  the  whole. 
It  were  easy  enough  to  cite  illustrations,  did  time 
permit ;  yet  it  is  unnecessary  with  such  an  illustra 
tion  before  our  eyes.  To  repeat  once  more  what  I 
have  already  said  from  this  place,  I  go  back  of  the 
deed  and  of  its  perpetrator.  I  remind  you  only  of  the 
words  of  the  assassin  as  he  leaped  to  the  floor — "Sic 
semper  tyrannis.  Virginia  is  avenged" — as  showing 
that  the  fatal  blow  was  struck  in  the  spirit  of  hatred 
to  constituted  authority,  in  the  spirit  of  devotion  to 
that  pestilent  heresy  of  state  sovereignty,  in  the  in 
terest  of  rebellion.  The  rebellion  was  the  direct 
outgrowth  of  slavery,  and  the  assassination  of  the 
President  is  the  grand  consummate  expression  of  the 
spirit  of  slavery.  This  is  not  the  first  time  it  has 
struck  from  behind.  It  is  full  of  the  instinct  of  its 
own  meanness.  It  knows  it  is  a  vile  thing,  a  sus 
pected  thing,  a  dangerous,  false  and  cruel  thing,  and 
it  would  fain  call  itself  by  other  names,  and  make  its 
way  under  a  mask.  But  thank  God  its  name  is 
written,  and  to-day  it  stands  baptized  in  the  name  of 
the  devil  and  all  his  angels  as  the  spirit  of  assassination 
and  murder. 

For,  look  you  calmly  at  this  thing.     I  ask  the  most 
strenuous  advocate  of  slavery,  if  there  be  one  left, 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  187 

whether,  in  reason,  we  could  expect  any  other  de 
velopment  ?  Go  back  to  the  fundamental  principle 
of  this  institution  which  enables  a  man  to  own  an 
other,  and  tell  me  if  that  is  a  safe  right  to  entrust  to 
any  man.  Tell  me  if  the  testimony  of  history  is  not 
uniform  on  this  point?  Tell  me  if  the  principle 
which  permits  one  man  to  regard  another  as  a  chattel 
is  not  destructive  in  the  end  of  respect  for  all  human 
right,  even  the  inalienable  right  of  life  ?  You  may 
put  restriction,  upon  a  master,  forbidding  him  to  kill 
his  slave;  but  the  spirit  which  thinks  nothing  of  whip 
ping  a  man  or  degrading  a  woman,  will  only  be 
restrained  by  policy  or  penalty  or  want  of  opportu 
nity  from  going  further.  The  moment  you  admit  in 
any  case  the  absolute  right  of  one  man  over  another's 
person  or  property  or  family,  that  moment  you  re 
move  the  question  from  its  only  substantial  basis, 
and  put  it  upon  varying  circumstances,  such  as  dis 
tinctions  of  social  position  or  color.  Be  what  you 
are  to-day,  mentally  and  morally,  only  black,  and  the 
planter  will  sell  you,  or  whip  you,  or  degrade  you  as 
readily  as  he  would  the  African  fresh  from  the  Guinea 
coast.  The  man  who  is  taught  that  he  is  at  liberty 
to  disregard  any  right  of  another,  is  in  a  fair  way  to 
disregard  all.  It  is  dangerous  to  set  such  a  principle 
in  motion.  You  cannot  stop  it  where  or  when  you 
will.  It  laughs  at  statutes.  It  is  like  the  demons  in 
the  old  story,  which  were  called  to  draw  water  by  one 
who  knew  the  spell  to  set  them  at  work,  but  had 


188  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

forgotten  how  to  lay  them  again ;  and  which  drew 
and  drew  until  they  flooded  his  dwelling.  You  can 
confine  the  application  of  this  principle  to  no  one 
class.  Begin  with  distinction  of  color,  and  gradually 
it  will  have  come  to  overleap  all  distinction  of  color, 
as  it  has  done  already;  for  you  know  that  men  and 
women  have  been  sold  in  the  slave  marts  with  skins 
as  white  as  yours.  Assume  that  a  slave  women  is 
rightfully  the  toy  and  property  of  her  master,  and 
you  lessen  the  respect  for  female  virtue  everywhere, 
and  stop  not  short  of  that  state  of  society  which  this 
is  no  place  to  lay  hare,  but  which  has  been  for  years 
existing  at  the  south,  and  than  which  hell  itself  can 
present  nothing  more  revolting.  Begin  with  right 
over,  a  slave's  person,  and  insensibly  the  master  spirit 
will  assert  itself  over  other  persons  ;  and  if  it  dare  not 
strike,  will  affect  contempt  of  wise  and  virtuous  men, 
and  come  with  its  slave-driving  airs  and  its  talk  of 
" mudsills"  into  the  national  councils.  Begin  with 
killing  a  negro  in  the  heat  of  passion,  or  by  the  ad 
ministration  of  a  few  dozen  lashes  too  many,  and 
under  a  system  which  finds  it  most  politic  to  wink  at 
such  deeds,  and  the  transition  is  easy  to  holding  the 
life  of  a  white  man  in  light  esteem.  The  hot  blood, 
the  childish  view  of  honor  which  sends  the  hand  of 
the  southern  desperado  to  his  knife-hilt  or  pistol- 
handle  on  the  first  fancied  provocation,  and  which  has 
made  the  south  the  favorite  arena  of  the  duelling 
code,  are  but  other  cases  in  point  showing  how  disre- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

gard  of  one  class  of  rights  has  begotten  disregard  of 
all.     The  spirit  which  shot  the  President  in  his  chair 
is  the  same  spirit  which  has  been  inflicting  mutilation 
and   death   upon  men  and  women  who   dared   open 
their  mouths  to  condemn  the  benignant  institution  of 
slavery,  and   sometimes   on   mere   suspicion  of  their 
sentiments.     It  is  the  same  spirit   that  struck  down 
Charles   Sumner  in  his    place  in  the  United  States 
senate  for  daring  to  hold  the  mirror  up  to  slavery,  and 
to  call  things  by  their  right  names,  and  which  gave 
public  ovations  to  the  miscreant  who  did  the  deed. 
And  if  you  want  a  catalogue  without  end,  turn  over 
the  history  of  this  war,  leaf  by  leaf,  and  see  whether 
the  spirit  of  slavery  can  be  expected  to  respect  any 
right.     Rights !    even  the  grave  has  had   no  rights. 
"We  have  lived  to  see  enacted  on  this  land  which  we 
have  claimed  for  Christian  civilization,  the  feats  that 
were  deemed  heroic,  centuries  ago  by  barbarians  who 
could  quench  their  rage  only  in   draughts  from  the 
skulls  of  their  slain  foes.     We  have  driven  the  Indian 
from  his   native  forest,  and  wept   sentimentally  over 
the  horrors  of  the  scalping  knife,  only  to  see  the  mu 
tilation  of  the   dead   incorporated  into  the  civilized 
warfare    of  the    chivalrous    south,    and   to   have  our 
murdered  sons  and  brothers  dug  from  their  graves,  - 
and  their  bones  hacked  into  pieces  to  furnish  amulets 
for  dainty  southern  dames.     We  have  lived  not  only 
to  read  of  the   inquisition  as   history,   but  to  see  it 
revived    with    refinements    of    cruelty   in    southern 


190  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

prisons.  We  have  seen  even  the  hard  mercies  of 
civilized  warfare  ignored,  and  the  policy  deliberately 
inaugurated  of  maiming  and  disabling  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  northern  men.  Have  you  seen  the 
photographer's  work?  Have  you  marked  the  idiotic 
stare,  the  ghastly  features,  the  protruding  bones,  the 
swollen  joints,?  Have  you  studied  the  horrors  of 
fever  in  the  stockades  of  Andersonville  ?  Do  you 
think  it  a  small  cause  that  will  send  men  deliberately 
across  the  dead-line  to  be  shot  Tather  than  pine  longer 
amid  such  misery?  Did  you  see  the  bread  which 
George  Stuart  brought  here  a  year  ago,  the  staple  of 
our  imprisoned  soldiers'  fare  ?  Do  you  know  that 
Libby  Prison  was  undermined  when  the  authorities 
of  Richmond  anticipated  the  approach  of  our  troops, 
and  that  the  hellish  machinery  was  all  in  readiness  to 
blow  the  prison  into  the  air  with  its  whole  living 
tenantry  ?  Have  your  minds  sounded  the  black 
depths  of  the  villainy  that,  under  the  shadow  of  Eng 
lish  neutrality  plotted  the  propagation  of  pestilence 
in  the  north,  and  the  burning  and  pillage  of  northern 
cities,  and  the  poisoning  of  the  reservoirs  whence  a 
million  of  human  beings  drew  their  daily  supply? 
Do  you  remember  that  this  very  act  of  murder  over 
which  we  grieve  was  in  contemplation  four  years  ago, 
and  that  only  a  superintending  Providence  saved 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  United  States,  and  Baltimore 
from  adding  another  crime  to  the  murder  of  Massa 
chusetts  troops  ?  And  are  you  to  think  this  last  event 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  191 

strange  ?  Is  an.  assassination  out  of  keeping  with,  the 
antecedents  of  slave  barbarism?  No,  no!  Slavery 
lias  done  this  deed,  and  upon  it  I  call  down  the  curse 
of  heaven.  I  invoke  it  in  the  name  of  a  down-trodden 
race  ;  I  invoke  it  in  the  name  of  the  hearts  it  has 
torn,  the  domestic  ties  it  has  severed,  the  virtue  it  has 
corrupted,  the  ignorance  it  has  fostered ;  in  the  name 
of  man  robbed  of  the  image  of  his  Maker,  and  of 
woman  shorn  of  her  dearest  and  most  sacred  rights ; 
in  the  name  of  slave  mothers  sitting  like  Niobes  all 
over  the  wasted  heritage  of  the  south ;  in  the  name  of 
the  blighted  hopes  and  desolate  hearths  of  the  north  ; 
in  the  name  of  the  emaciated  skeletons  in  our  hospi 
tals,  and  the  maimed  forms  that  crawl  along  our 
streets;  in  the  name  of  the  mutilated  and  pillaged 
dead ;  in  the  name  of  that  bereaved  widow  and  her 
fatherless  children,  and  of  the  bereaved  nation  lying 
to-day  in  sackcloth  and  ashes ;  I  call  down  upon  it 
the  blight  of  heaven  ;  I  brand  it  as  the  representative 
trampler.  upon  human  rights.  Oh !  that  when  its  vile 
head  shall  have  been  crushed,  as  crushed  it  will  be 
ere  long,  its  vestiges  might  be  obliterated  forever. 
But  this  cannot  be.  They  will  remain  to  bear  testi 
mony  against  the  southern  lords  who  have  fostered 
and  fought  for  it,  and  against  the  northern  men  who, 
in  admiration  of  its  patriarchal  beauties,  have  lav 
ished  upon  it  their  sympathy,  and  truckled  to  its 
imperious  demands.  The  reminders  are  written  all 
over  the  land.  The  white  tablets  gleaming  from  a 

25 


192  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

thousand  hill-side  churchyards  shall  tell  the  story. 
The  rough  boards  that  mark  the  thousands  of  graves 
by  the  Rappahannoek  and  Potomac  and  Chickahominy 
shall  moulder,  but  the  grass  shall  grow  more  greenly 
there,  and  flowers  bloom  more  luxuriantly ;  and  even 
in  their  summer  loveliness,  the  voice  of  brothers' 
blood  shall  cry  from  the  ground.  The  plow  shall 
turn  up  mute  witnesses,  and  the  fields,  with  their 
multitudinous  relics  of  battle,  be  vocal  with  slavery's 
reproach. 

And  the  west  shall  remember  it.  It  shall  keep  the 
lesson  to  whet  its  good  sword,  and  to  fire  its  heart,  if 
ever  traitors  attempt  a  like  experiment ;  for  there,  in 
one  of  its  quiet  cemeteries,  shall  rise  the  monument 
of  slave  treason's  last  and  greatest  victim.  To  the 
home  of  his  early  struggles  and  successes,  to  the  home 
from  which  he  went  with  prayer  and  faith  to  assume 
his  high  destiny,  to  it  shall  be  the  honored  tasK  of 
cherishing  his  loved  remains,  and  his  obelisk  shall, 
stand  when  our  beloved  land  shall  have  emerged  puri 
fied  and  triumphant  from  this  bloody  ordeal,  with  its 
marble  finger  ever  pointing  to  heaven  in  protest 
against  the  barbarism  which  tore  him  from  the  hearts 
of  a  loving  people. 

But  I  turn  now  from  the  authorship  of  this  calamity 
to  the  illustrious  dead  himself. 

Our  late  beloved  President,  while  in  no  sense  a 
sectional  President,  represented  nevertheless  a  pecu 
liar  phase  of  our  national  life — its  youngest,  its  most 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  193 

progressive  side.  The  west  was  his  birth-place  ;  the 
west,  that  grand  theatre  where  the  pent  up  energy 
and  glowing  aspiration  of  all  other  portions  of  the 
land  find  ample  room  for  development.  While  the 
west  furnishes  types  of  the  best  growths  of  other  soils, 
it  superadds  to  them  a  character  peculiarly  its  own. 
It  exhibits  the  shrewdness  of  New  England  without 
its  rigidity  ;  the  geniality  of  the  south  without  its 
passion.  It  combines  the  impulsiveness  of  the  Caro- 
linas,  and  the  caution  of  Maine  and  Connecticut.  In 
its  more  thinly  settled  districts  men  are  obliged  to  fill 
larger  spaces.  The  circumstances  are  more  favorable 
for  the  development  of  strong  individualities.  A  man 
cannot  merge  himself  in  a  multitude  or  retire  into  a 
convenient  obscurity.  He  must  fill  a  place,  do  a 
work,  assert  himself,  bring  out  the  best  that  is  in  him, 
or  suffer  the  consequent  odium.  The  early  life  of  the 
President  was  well  adapted  to  call  out  the  practical 
shrewdness,  the  strong  common  sense,  and  the  know 
ledge  of  men  which  characterized  him.  In  such 
societies  men's  culture,  except  in  its  practical  adapt 
ations,  would  have  been  wasted.  Men's  knowledge 
was  estimated  according  to  its  visible  practical  contri 
butions  to  the  common  weal.  The  emergencies  of 
that  pioneer  life  called  for  tact,  readiness,  practical 
ability.  In  the  development  of  these  the  future  Pre 
sident  was  not  wanting  in  mental  stimulus  and 
training.  The  very  meagreness  of  the  sources  of 
knowledge  sharpened  his  appetite  for  it,  and  perhaps 


194  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

contributed  to  that  characteristic  thoroughness  which 
placed  what  knowledge  he  had  so  thoroughly  at  his 
command.  The  conscientious  carefulness  so  early 
exhibited  marked  him  throughout  his  official  life ;  so 
that  whatever  men  may  think  of  his  expressed  senti 
ments  on  any  subject,  his  discussions  always  show  an 
opinion  laboriously  and  conscientiously  formed.  The 
freedom  and  geniality  of  western  life,  its  rough  but 
genuine  familiarity,  tended  to  deepen  a  naturally 
sunny  and  affectionate  disposition.  No  less  were  the 
circumstances  under  which  he  appeared  in  political 
life  adapted  to  sharpen  his  intellect  and  fit  him  for 
the  wider  arena  upon  which  he  was  destined  to  enter. 
That  close  contact  of  political  leaders  with  the  people, 
requiring  that  the  representatives  of  opposite  parties 
should  discuss  the  great  questions  of  the  day  in  their 
presence,  was  unfavorable  to  superficial  knowledge  or 
evasive  logic.  'No  point  must  be  shirked,  however 
difficult.  In  the  sword  play  of  debate  before  the 
people,  exposed  to  a  running  fire  of  question  and  com 
ment,  with  the  keenest  interest  and  the  most  intense 
feeling  excited,  he  who  evaded,  if  not  exposed  by  his 
adversary,  was  discovered  by  the  people,  and  com 
pelled  to  meet  the  issue  or  blush  for  his  ignorance  or 
cowardice.  From  such  a  school  he  came  to  the 
executive  chair.  You  know  well  how  exciting  and 
alarming  was  the  crisis  at  which  he  assumed  it.  His 
own  election  had  been  connived  at  by  the  opposite 
party  to  gain  a  pretext  for  the  execution  of  their  long 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  195 

cherished  scheme  of  secession.  South  Carolina  had 
begun  the  pestilent  work  and  had  turned  her  guns 
upon  a  government  fortress.  The  executive,  too 
timid,  too  imbecile,  or  too  much  in  sympathy  with 
the  treason,  to  act,  refused  to  lift  a  finger  to  strangle 
the  infant  rebellion.  States  were  falling  into  line 
under  the  new  confederacy.  Its  agents  had  pilfered 
the  public  treasury  and  scattered  the  public  munitions. 
The  border  states  hung  wavering  in  the  balance,  an 
object  of  apprehension  and  desire  to  either  party. 
The  slavery  question  was  presenting  itself  under  the 
most  complicated  aspect — the  acknowledged  source 
of  the  difficulty,  yet  incapable  of  being  assailed  for 
the  time.  Foreign  nations  were  prepared  to  extend 
their  sympathy  only  on  the  ground  of  a  crusade  against 
slavery,  and  we  were  compelled  by  fidelity  to  the  Con 
stitution,  to  deal  only  with  the  overt  act  of  treason,  at 
the  risk  of  forfeiting  sympathy  and  insuring  foreign 
intervention.  The  conspirators  were  jubilant  over 
their  first  success,  and  boasting  that  their  flag  would 
soon  wave  over  the  Capitol.  On  this  scene  of  turmoil 
and  danger  Abraham  Lincoln  entered  at  his  inaugura 
tion.  Well  might  he  look  forward  with  apprehension. 
Well  might  he  say  011  leaving  his  western  home  :  "  A 
duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is  perhaps  greater  than 
that  which,  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man  since  the 
days  of  Washington."  But  once  committed  to  his 
duty  he  was  not  the  man  to  shrink.  He  had  been 
used  to  meeting  emergencies.  He  had  been  trained 


196  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

in  the  school  of  difficulty ;  and  gathering  up  his  man 
hood  with  a  calm  dignity  and  a  childlike  trust  in  God, 
he  went  forth  to  give  his  labor  and  his  life  for  his 
country.  It  is,  of  course,  foreign  to  my  purpose  to 
follow  him  through  that  administration  so  fruitful  in 
events,  in  which  the  nation  has  made  history  faster 
than  in  all  the  rest  of  her  life  together.  I  desire  only 
to  bring  out  a  few  of  those  traits  which  most  clearly 
illustrate  the  man,  and  with  which  the  nation  has  been 
made  familiar  in  his  late  position.  His  qualities  of 
heart  were  such  as  commended  him  to  all  men.  He 
was  in  the  real  sense  of  that  term  a  hearty  man.  The 
expression  of  this  characteristic  was  with  him  some 
thing  more  than  that  assumed  cordiality  and  familiar 
ity  which  is  counted  one  of  the  politician's  necessary 
weapons.  It  went  beyond  mere  hand-shakings  and 
expressions  of  good  fellowship.  He  was  naturally 
disposed  to  think  well  of  his  race.  His  prepossessions 
were  generally  in  favor  of  a  man.  He  w^ould  rather 
love  than  hate  him  ;  and  hence  his  feeling  was  lite 
rally  cordial — the  spontaneous  outgoing  of  a  frank 
and  manly  nature.  In  the  theatre  of  his  earlier  victo 
ries,  he  was  a  man  whose  intellectual  power  his 
adversaries  feared ;  but  he  would  rather  disarm  an 
opponent  with  a  good  natured  jest  than  with  a  sarcasm 
or  denunciation.  "With  such  a  nature,  backed  by  a 
keen  appreciation  of  the  ludicrous,  a  ready  memory,  a 
quick  perception,  a  wide  experience,  his  power  of 
anecdote  and  repartee  has  become  proverbial.  This 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  197 

feature  of  his  character,  which  has  provoked  the  sneers 
of  the  starched  magnates  of  Europe,  has  ever  appeared 
to  my  mind  as  a  special  gift  for  a  special  emergency. 
As  already  remarked,  such  a  burden  rested  upon  him 
as  seldom  or  never  fell  to  any  ruler's  lot.  Added  to 
the  intricacy  and  number  of  the  state  questions  con 
stantly  before  him,  his  natural  kindness  of  heart  ren 
dered  him  accessible  to  numberless  petty,  personal 
applications  which  he  would  have  been  fully  justified 
in  committing  to  subordinates ;  and  that  never-failing 
fund  of  cheerfulness,  that  exhaustless  humor  which 
the  most  complicated  problem  would  so  often  "remind 
of  a  story,"  that  elasticity  which  suffered  him  to  bate 
not  one  jot  of  heart  or  hope  in  those  times  when  the 
strongest  held  their  breath,  were  God's  own  gifts  to 
the  care-worn  man,  blessed  springs  of  refreshing  and 
strength  gushing  up  all  along  the  dusty  road  of  official 
duty. 

But  this  element  of  his  character  had  yet  a  deeper 
and  more  practical  bearing  upon  his  official  life.  Offi 
cial  brusqueness  is  by  no  means  a  rare  quality,  and,  in 
a  position  where,  as  in  the  executive  seat,  it  is  so  often 
necessary  to  say  "NO!"  decidedly  and  sternly,  is  not 
an  altogether  valueless  one.  Many  men  of  kindly 
natures  rapidly  acquire  it  under  the  ceaseless  rasping 
of  official  duty.  But  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  the  effect  of 
his  constant  and  wearing  intercourse  with  the  people 
was,  if  anything,  rather  to  open  his  heart  to  them,  and 
to  make  him  more  unwilling  to  refuse  any  reasonable 


198  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

request.  Haughty  and  cold  he  could  not  he,  but  in 
his  never  failing  humor  he  found  a  shield  as  well  as  a 
sword,  a  medium  of  refusal  which  relieved  the  task  of 
half  its  pain  to  himself  and  effectually  tempered  its 
bitterness  to  the  disappointed  applicant.  His  kindly 
satire  covered  the  evasion  of  many  an  intrusive  ques 
tion,  and  the  denial  of  many  a  petition  which 'duty 
forbade  kindness  to  grant.  As  it  was,  his  deep  consci 
entiousness,  his  keen  sense  of  justice,  his  unwillingness 
to  wrong  anything  human,  and  perhaps  his  too  great 
faith  in  the  natural  goodness  of  mankind,  led  him  at 
times  to  be  lenient  and  forgiving,  when  many  thought 
that  severity  would  have  been  but  justice.  His  per 
sonal  kindness  had  extended  to  his  own  assassin.  His 
mind,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  full  of  schemes  for 
the  forgiveness  and  restoration  of  the  traitors  who 

O 

had  struck  at  the  nation's  heart ;  and  if  it  be  that  the 
south  is  avenged  in  his  death,  she  will  find  it  to  be  a 
vengeance  that  will  recoil  upon  her  own  head ;  for  in 
him  she  has  lost  her  best  friend,  and  however  little  we 
could  afford  to  spare  him,  she  could  afford  it  still  less. 
The  lightness  and  jocularity  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
were  but  a  veil  for  sterner  traits.  They  were  but  as 
the  waving  verdure,  necked  with  passing  shadows, 
and  toyed  with  by  every  wind,  yet  growing  upon  the 
everlasting  hills  whose  heart  is  rock,  and  whose 
foundations  are  in  the  depths  of  the  earth.  His  up- 
.  rightness  has  passed  into  a  proverb.  His  jest  and 
story  covered  a 'strength  of  purpose,  a  rigid  determina- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  199 

tion,  an  adherence  to  principle  which  no  crooked 
policy  could  undermine,  and  which  no  bribe  was 
great  enough  to  tempt.  In  the  real  old  Roman  sense 
of  the  term  he  was  an  honest  man  —  an  embodiment  of 
manly  worth  and  honor.  Where  men  or  measures 
stood  in  the  way  of  principle  they  must  go  down. 
When  even  plausible  views  of  moral  right  on  certain 
great  questions  were  urged  upon  him  by  reformers, 
he  could  even  consent  for  the  time  to  be  deemed  false 
to  the  great  objects  of  philanthropy,  rather  than 
swerve  from  his  conscientiously  chosen  policy.  He 
did  not  consult  personal  popularity.  He  regarded 
himself  as  the  people's  servant;  and  to  do  their  work 
in  the  best  way,  and  in  accordance  with  his  sworn 
obligation  to  the  Constitution,  was  his  sole  care.  And 
the  secret  of  this  lay  in  his  religiousness.  From  the 
time  of  his  assumption  of  his  office  to  his  death,  his 
words  on  all  public  occasions  breathe  a  spirit  of  trust 
in  the  God  of  nations.  After  his  assumption  of  .office, 
he  became  the  subject  of  deeper  religious  experience. 
Amid  the  graves  of  the  fallen  heroes  of  Gettysburg, 
the  weary  and  heavy  laden  heart  which  the  impend 
ing  cares  of  state  and  the  bitterness  of  bereavement 
had  failed  to  bring  to  the  cross,  accepted  Christ  as  its 
guide  and  His  yoke  and  burden  as  its  portion.  This 
sentiment  is  the  key-note  of  the  few  words  spoken  by 
him  on  leaving  his  home  for  Washington.  "Wash 
ington  would  never  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid 

of  Divine  Providence,   upon  which  he  at  all  times 

26 


200  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same 
Divine  aid  which  sustained  him,  and  on  the  same  Al 
mighty  being  I  place  my  reliance  for  support."  Of 
him  it  might  be  justly  said,  as  of  William  of  Orange, 
to  whose  character  his  own  presents  some  points  of 
similarity:  "From  his  trust  in  God,  he  ever  derived 
support  and  consolation  in  the  darkest  hours.  Impli 
citly  relying  upon  Almighty  wisdom  and  goodness, 
he  looked  danger  in  the  face  with  a  constant  smile, 
and  endured  incessant  labors  and  trials  with  a  serenity 
which  seemed  more  than  human;"  and,  in  the  beau 
tiful  words  of  him  who  pronounced  his  funeral  eulogy, 
''While  we  admired  and  loved  him  on  many  accounts., 
more  suitable  than  any  or  all  of  these,  more  holy  and 
influential,  more  beautiful  and  strong  and  sustaining, 
was  his  habitual  confidence  in  God,  and  in  the  final 
triumph  of  truth  and  righteousness  through  him  and 
for  His  sake.  This  was  his  noblest  virtue  and  grand 
est  principle,  the  secret  alike  of  his  strength,  his 
patriotism  and  his  success.  And  this,  it  seems  to  me, 
after  being  near  him  steadily,  and  with  him  often  for 
more  than  four  years,  is  the  principle  by  which,  more 
than  by  any'other,  he  being  dead  yet  speaketh." 

Oh !  were  it  my  lot  to  speak  this  day  to  men 
in  high  places,  I  would  commend  to  him  who 
comes  to  Abraham  Lincoln's  place,  this  trait  above 
any  in  Abraham  Lincoln's  character.  I  would  im 
plore  him  by  the  great  interests  of  humanity  now 
committed  to  him,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  ques- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  201 

tions  which  sway  the  nation  to-day  have  risen  far 
above  the  realm  of  politics,  into  that  of  morals  and 
religion  ;  in  view  of  the  insignificance  of  all  human 
power  and  wisdom,  in  an  arena  where  God  is  so 
manifestly  exercising  control,  and  shaping  the  age's 
destiny,  to  look  to  this  first  of  all.  I  would  implore 
him  to  let  the  wave  of  prayer  that  sweeps  toward 
him  from  every  hearthstone  in  the  land,  bear  him  to 
the  secret  places  of  the  Most  High,  there  to  seek  the 
leadings  of  that  higher  will,  there  to  have  his  thought 
drawn  into  sympathy  with  the  Divine  purposes,  there 
to  be  clad  in  the  mantle  of  Lincoln's  unswerving 

O 

faith,  and  thence  to  come  forth  and  place  himself  at 
the  nation's  head,  girt  with  a  sublimer  strength,  a 
purer  patriotism,  and  a  holier  wisdom. 

The  elements  of  the  President's  intellectual  cha 
racter  were  not  complex.  It  has  been  taken  for 
granted  that  he  did  not  exhibit  the  characteristics  of 
a  great  statesman.  But  without  presuming  to  deny 
this,  I  would  not  be  too  .certain  that  he  was  wanting 
in  the  capacities  for  the  highest  statesmanship.  His 
discernment  was  quick;  his  power  of  generalizing 
not  inferior;  his  grasp  of  a  subject  firm;  his  know 
ledge,  of  political  machinery  extensive,  though  ga 
thered  from  experience  more  than  from  study.  His 
policy,  as  exhibited  in  his  administration,  was  cautious 
and  far-reaching.  To  his  sterling  integrity  and 
frankness  he  added  the  wiliness  of  a  Talleyrand. 
Under  other  influences,  and  in  a  foreign  court,  he 


202  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

might  have  developed  into  a  diplomat  of  the  first 
order.  After  all  that  has  been  said  of  his  statesman 
ship,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  piloted  the  nation 
through  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  all  possible  junc 
tures  with  consummate  skill  and  tact,  and,  the  result 
will  probably  show,  with  as  few  mistakes  as  any  man 
would  have  been  likely  to  make  under  similar  circum 
stances.  His  ignorance  or  rejection  of  mere  technicali 
ties  may,  in  some  instances,  have  blinded  superficial 
observers  to  the  statesmanlike  qualities  of  his  mind. 
He  was  one  of  those  to  whom  it  was  given  to  show  the 
courts  of  Europe  that  the  difference  between  the  ad 
ministrators  of  the  old  and  new  world  is  in  the  polish 
rather  than  in  the  temper  of  the  blade.  He  laid  110 
claim  to  the  rhetorician's  laurels,  yet  his  public  docu 
ments  were  strongly,  clearly  and  vigorously  written. 
His  state  papers  were  eminently  popular  documents. 
The  discussions  of  political  issues  introduced  into 
them  were  set  forth  ofttimes  with  familiar  illustrations, 
which,  while  they  might  provoke  a  smile  from  the 
sticklers  for  official  stateliness,  imparted  to  them  a 
wonderful  freshness,  and  tended  to  root  their  princi 
ples  deep  in  the  popular  mind.  E"o  president  has 
ever  surpassed  him,  if  any  has  equalled  him,  in  clear 
ly  defining  his  policy  to  the  masses.  His  strong, 
practical  common  sense  was  the  basis  of  his  intel 
lectual  character.  In  his  political  discussions  he  had 
a  rare  faculty  of  detecting  and  exposing  sophistry. 
He  seized  intuitively  upon  the  vital  point  of  every 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  203 

question,  clearly  stated  the  real  issue,  ranged  all  sub 
ordinate  facts  round  this,  and  summarily  discarded 
everything  which  had  no  relation  to  it.  This  faculty 
proved  especially  valuable  in  the  class  of  questions 
with  which  his  administration  so  largely  dealt.  His 
strong  sense  saved  the  Constitution  from  its  greatest 
danger,  the  danger  of  tying  its  own  hands ;  and  this 
was  what  enabled  him  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  where 
some  men  would  have  found  themselves  embarrassed 
by  a  mere  technicality  or  formula. 

Terhaps  one  of  the  chief  elements  of  his  success  in 
this  respect  was  what  I  may  call  his  docility.  This 
feature  of  his  character  stamps  him  as  truly  great, 
when  viewed  in  relation  to  the  facts  of  his  adminis 
tration.  For  a  man  may  be  truly  willing  to  learn, 
without  the  ability  to  profit  by  his  acquisitions.  But 
when  a  man  not  only  learns  of  passing  events  in  the 
spirit  of  a  child,  but  out  of  his  learning  draws  a 
power  which  equals  him  to  whatever  emergency  they 
develop, —  when  he  grows  in  wisdom  and  majesty  and 
power  with  his  task,  we  may  no  longer  refuse  him 
the  meed  of  greatness.  Lincoln's  simplicity  here, 
was  wiser  than  many  another  man's  wisdom.  A  less 
teachable,  more  conceited  man,  coming  to  the  execu 
tive  chair  at  that  crisis,  with  a  determination  to  make 
events  bend  to  a  definite  inflexible  policy,  might  have 
plunged  the  nation  in  ruin.  I  have  heard  it  said 
more  than  once  since  the  war  began,  "would  that 
Jackson,  or  a  man  of  his  mould  were  at  the  helm." 


204  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

But  I  question  now,  whether  it  would  have  been  well. 
The  stern  old  hero  would  scarcely  have  fallen  so 
readily  into  the  track  of  events  as  the  more  pliable, 
but  not  less  courageous  Lincoln.  God  knew  his 
instrument  better  than  we  did.  The  crisis  was  one 
which  no  preconceived  human  policy  could  fit.  A 
policy  had  to  develop  itself  out  of  the  crisis,  and  it  is 
not  the  least  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  claims  to  great 
ness,  that  he  had  the  humility  to  accept  this  fact, 
and  the  power  to  use  it  so  successfully. 

"  No  hasty  fool  of  stubborn  will, 
.    But  prudent,  cautious,  pliant  still, 
Who,  since  his  work  was»good, 
Would  do  it  as  he  could, 
Doubting,  was  not  ashamed  to  doubt, 
And  lacking  prescience  went  without." 

He  was  willing  to  learn  not  only  from  events  but 
from  the  people.  He,  as  already  remarked,  recog 
nized  himself  as  the  people's  choice :  as  the  expo 
nent  of  their  will.  His  words  on  this  subject  as 
reported  by  a  late  writer,  are  important  as  illustrating 
a  rule  of  his  action,  and  to  some  extent  perhaps,  the 
representative  character  of  his  mind  and  of  his  ad 
ministration.  When  some  one  remonstrated  with 
him  for  giving  so  much  of  his  time  to  petty  applica 
tions,  and  not  referring  them  to  subordinates,  he 
replied.  "  Ah,  yes  !  such  things  do  very  well  for  you 
military  people,  with  your  arbitrary  rule,  and  in  your 
camps.  But  the  office  of  President  is  essentially  a 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  205 

civil  one,  and  the  affair  is  very  different.  For  myself, 
I  feel — though  the  tax  on  my  time  is  heavy  —  that  no 
hours  of  my  day  are  better  employed  than  those 
which  thus  bring  me  again  within  the  direct  contact 
and  atmosphere  of  the  average  of  our  whole  people. 
Men  moving  only  in  an  official  circle  are  apt  to  be 
come  merely  official  —  not  to  say  arbitrary  —  in  their 
ideas  ;  and  are  apter  and  apter,  with  each  passing  day, 
to  forget  that  they  only  hold  power  in  a  representative 
capacity.  Now  this  is  all  wrong.  I  go  into  these 
promiscuous  receptions  of  all,  who  claim  to  have 
business  with  me  twice  each  week,  and  every  appli 
cant  for  audience  has  to  take  his  turn  as  if  waiting  to 
be  shaved  in  a  barber's  shop.  Many  of  the  matters 
brought  to  my  notice  are  utterly  frivolous ;  but  others 
are  of  more  or  less  importance ;  and  all  serve  to  re 
new  in  me  a  clearer  and  more  vivid  image  of  that 
great  popular  assemblage  out  of  which  I  sprang,  and 
to  which  at  the  end  of  two  years  I  must  return.  I 
tell  you,  Major,"  he  said  —  appearing  at  this  point  to 
recollect  I  was  in  the  room,  for  the  former  part  of 
these  remarks  had  been  made  with  half  shut  eyes,  as 
if  in  soliloquy — "I  tell  you  that  I  call  these  recep 
tions  my  public-opinion  baths,  for  I  have  little  time  to 
read  the  papers  and  gather  public  opinion  that  way ; 
and  though  they  may  not  be  pleasant  in  all  their  par 
ticulars,  the  effect,  as  a  whole,  is  renovating  and  in 
vigorating  to  my  perceptions  of  responsibility  and 
duty.  It  would  never  do  for  a  president  to  have 


206  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

guards  with,  drawn  sabres  at  his  door,  as  if  he  fancied 
he  were,  or  were  trying  to  be,  or  were  assuming'to  be, 
an  emperor." 

And  out  of  this  grew  as  a  consequence  that  direct 
personal  interest  of  the  people  in  him  which  has  hon 
ored  his  tomb  with  the  most  magnificent  demon 
stration  of  public  sorrow  ever  paid  to  a  ruler.  The 
reverence  of  the  people  for  Washington  might  have 
equalled  if  not  surpassed  that  conceded  to  Lincoln. 
I  doubt  if  the  Nation's  love  for  its  first  president 
equalled  its  love  for  the  last.  The  more  stately 
revolutionary  regime,  the  circumstance  of  birth,  the 
condition  of  society,  even  the  character  of  the  Father  of 
his  Country,  did  not  tend  to  bring  the  hearts  of  presi 
dent  and  people  in  as  close  contact  then  as  now. 
We  never  knew  this  until  he  was  taken  from  us.  For 
four  years  the  hearts  and  eyes  of  the  nation  had  un- 
conciously  rested  on  him  as  the  central  figure  of  every  • 
public  movement ;  for  four  years  he  has  been  demon 
strating  by  continuous  testimony  his  personal  in 
terest  in  every  man,  woman  and  child  of  the  American 
people  that  came  into  contact  with  him.  Those  who 
had  never  seen  him,  knew  nevertheless  that  the  same 
cordial  welcome,  the  same  affectionate  sympathy  with 
their  cares  and  wishes  awaited  them  if  their  time 
should  come :  and  when  he  died,  it  was  as  if  the  light 
had  gone  out  of  every  eye.  Every  hand  instinctively 
groped  for  a  support,  and  little  children  wept  because 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  dead. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  207 

A  recent  article  from  the  London  Spectator  so  forci 
bly  illustrates  some  of  these  views  that  I  may  be 
pardoned  for  quoting  an  extract: 

"But  without  the  advantages  of  Washington's 
education  or  training,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  called  from  a 
humble  station  at  the  opening  of  a  mighty  civil  war 
to  form  a  government  out  of  a  party  in  which  the 
habits  and  traditions  of  official  life  did  not  exist. 
Finding  himself  the  object  of  southern  abuse  so  fierce 
and  so  foul  that  in  any  man  less  passionless  it  would 
long  ago  have  stirred  up  an  implacable  animosity ; 
mocked  at  for  his  official  awkwardness  and  denounced 
for  his  steadfast  policy  by  all  the  Democratic  section 
of  the  loyal  states;  tried  by  years  of  failure  before 
that  policy  achieved,  a  single  great  success ;  further 
tried  by  a  series  of  successes  so  rapid  and  brilliant 
that  they  would  have  puffed  up  a  smaller  mind  and 
overset  its  .balance  ;  embarrassed  by  the  boastfulness 
of  his  people  and  of  his  subordinates  no  less  than  by 
his  own  inexperience  in  his  relations  with  foreign 
states ;  beset  by  fanatics  of  principle  on  one  side,  who 
would  pay  no  attention  to  his  obligations  as  a  consti 
tutional  ruler,  and  by  fanatics  of  caste  on  the  other, 
who  were  not  only  deaf  to  the  claims  of  justice  but 
would  hear  of  no  policy  large  enough  for  a  revolu 
tionary  emergency,  Mr.  Lincoln  has  persevered 
through  all  without  ever  giving  way  to  anger,  or  de 
spondency,  or  exultation,  or  popular  arrogance,  or 
sectarian  fanaticism,  or  caste  prejudice,  visibly  grow- 

27 


208  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL, 

ing  in  force  of  character,  in  self-possession,  and  in 
magnanimity,  till,  in  his  last  short  message  to  Con 
gress  on  the  fourth  of  March,  we  can  detect  no  longer 
the  rude  and  illiterate  mould  of  a  village  lawyer's 
thought,  but  find  it  replaced  by  a  grasp  of  principle, 
a  dignity  of  manner,  and  a  solemnity  of  purpose  which 
would  have  been  unworthy  neither  of  Hampden  nor 
of  Cromwell,  while  his  gentleness  and  generosity  of 
feeling  towards  his  foes  are  almost  greater  than  we 
should  expect  from  either  of  them." 

At  once  the  representative  fact  of  his  administra 
tion,  and  that  which  distinguished  it  above  an}7  other 
in  our  history,  is  its  relations  to  the  great  question  of 
human  bondage.  In  this  respect  his  administration 
forms  an  era  in  the  history  of  the  race.  The  status 
of  the  question  at  the  time  of  his  inauguration,  and 
for  a  long  time  after,  was  peculiar  and  difficult.  The 
moral  and  political  aspects  of  the  contest  were 
brought  into  apparent  antagonism ;  and  the  foreign 
emissaries  of  secession  had  no  dearer  object  than  to 
prove  this  antagonism  real,  and  thus  alienate  from  us 
the  sympathy  of  Europe.  Europe,  knowing  slavery 
to  lie  at  the  root  of  our  trouble,  expected  us  to  strike 
at  once  at  slavery.  We,  knowing  the  fact  equally 
well,  could,  at  the  time,  strike  only  at  treason.  We 
could  deal  only  with  the  immediate  development, 
not  with  the  ultimate  cause.  The  provisions  of  the 
Constitution,  the  divided  sentiment  of  the  north,  the 
hesitating  attitude  of  the  border  states,  the  general 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  209 

ignorance  of  the  extent  and  maturity  of  the  conspi 
racy,  made  it  a  matter  of  the  utmost  difficulty  and 
delicacy.  The  President  clearly  appreciated  the 
source  of  the  difficulty,  and,  as  the  result  showed,  had 
its  removal  as  deeply  at  heart  as  any  man.  Hence, 
at  Philadelphia,  prior  to  his  inauguration,  he  re 
marked:  "I  have  often  inquired  of  myself  what 
great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  confede 
racy  so  long  together.  It  was  something  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  giving  liberty  not  only 
to  the  people  of  this  country,  but  hope  to  the  world 
for  all  coming  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  promise 
that  in  due  time  the  weights  should  be  lifted  from  the 
shoulders  of  all  men,  and  that  all  should  have  an 
equal  chance.  If  this  country  cannot  be  saved  with- 
.  out  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say  I 
would  rather  be  assassinated  upon  the  spot  than  surrender 
it."  I  need  not  follow  the  great  question  through  the 
history  of  its  solution.  The  world  will  bear  testimony 
to  the  cautious,  far-seeing  wisdom  with  which  he 
dealt  with  it.  History  will  do  justice  to  the  man  who 
could  make  impulse,  however  high  and  generous, 
stand  back  for  duty.  It  will  bear  witness  to  the  faith 
which  could  wait  as  well  as  labor ;  which  was  content 
to  let  the  result  come  out  in  the  slow  grinding  of  the 
mills  of  God,  without  putting  forth'  his  hand  to 
quicken  the  machinery.  It  will  record  how  sacredly 
he  respected  the  constitutional  rights  of.  the  south ; 
how  timely  were  his  warnings  ;  how  liberal  his  solici- 


210  LINCOLN  MEMOEIAL. 

tations,  until  at  last,  when  he  saw  that  God's  purpose 
was  ripe,  when,  having  kept  adroitly  in  the  rear  of 
events,  yet  having  so  employed  them  as  to  make  the 
fall  power  of  the  popular  wave  bear  him  to  his  goal, 
he  rose  in  his  might,  and  with  a  word  that  echoed 
through  the  world,  the  fetters  fell  forever  from  the 
slave.  How  a  great  moral  act  like  this  looms  up 
amid  the  political  developments  of  the  age,  and  those 
things  which  more  directly  touch  us  as  individuals  — 
questions  of  financial  policy,  learned  diplomatic  cor 
respondence,  generals,  victories,  deeds  of  individual 
heroism,  party  triumphs.  For  when  state  volumes 
shall  be  mouldering  in  libraries,  and  the  soldiers' 
children's  children  playing  with  his  rusty  sword  and 
asking  its  story,  when  the  names  of  old  political 
parties  shall  be  obsolete,  and  the  issues  which  created 
them  forgotten,  this  fact  shall  be  fresh  in  the  nation's 
memory.  Abraham  Lincoln  signed  the  death  war 
rant  of  American  slavery.  Thank  God,  "the  past  at 
least  is  secure."  What  he  has  done  in  this  matter 
will  not  be  undone.  The  moral  sentiment  of  the 
nation,  educated  by  the  stern  discipline  of  war  and 
sorrow,  has  followed  up  the  blow  and  clinched  the 
nail,  and  to-day  one  mighty  will  pulsates  from  east  to 
west,  that  this  curse  shall  be  no  more.  Shut  close 
thine  accursed  door,  oh!  slave  mart.  Stand  in  the 
midst  of  the  southern  cities,  a  monument  of  a  past 
barbarism,  a  haunted  place  past  which  the  belated 
wayfarer  shall  hasten,  and  whose  story  of  horror  shall 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  211 

be  told  with  bated  breath.  Where  the  auctioneer's 
hammer  sealed  the  doom  of  humanity  and  virtue,  let 
the  rank  grass  gro'w,  and  scorpions  lurk,  and  silence 
brood,  and  over  its  door  let  it  be  written — "Acel 
dama"  Lie  still,  oh!  slave  ship,  in  thy  port,  thou 
whose  every  plank  and  timber  is  seasoned  with  bitter 
tears ;  lie  still  and  rot  in  the  blistering  sun ;  let  the 
foul  slime  and  ooze  gather  about  thy  keel,  and  the 
crawling  things  of  the  deep,  foul  shapes  that  fishers' 
line  never  brought  to  light,  lurk  in  thy  shadow ;  and 
let  the  breeze  refuse  to  fill  thine  idle  sails,  and  no 
traitorous  wind  ever  send  thee  lessening  down  the 
wrest  on  thy  mission  of  woe.  Pile  the  fetters  into  the 
furnace,  and  let  the  molten  flood  pour  forth  into 
moulds  of  plow  and  pruning-hook  wherewith  the  ran 
somed  man  shall  bring  beauty  out  of  the  wilderness, 
and  train  the  clustering  vines  of  the  south  over  his 
cabin,  his  home,  his  castle,  on  whose  threshold  he 
shall  have  a  man's  right  to  stand  and  keep  the  de 
stroyer  from  his  flock.  This  land  at  least  cannot, 
dare  not  renew  the  curse.  It  dare  not  cancel  the 
charter  to  which  Abraham  Lincoln  set  his  hand.  His 
great  shade  would  rise  from  the  grave  in  its  fiery 
indignation.  No,  the  hand  cannot  be  found  that  shall 
rivet  the  chains  again,  and  this  deed  of  his  shall  stand 
in  time  to  come,  a  monument  more  enduring  than 
brass,  whose  inscription  angels  shall  pause  to  read  on 
their  messages  of  peace. 
But  he  could  not  be  spared  to  us  longer.  His  work 


212  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

here  was  done.  Heaven  had  new  and  higher  purposes 
concerning  him  which  it  does  not  reveal  to  us ;  and 
now  that  he  has  been  so  mysteriously  and  suddenly 
snatched  from  us,  it  becomes  us  to  ask  with  all  due 
reverence,  "What  does  it  mean  ?" 

He  must  be  presumptuous  indeed  who  shall  assume 
to  interpret  such  a  providence,  and  to  say  for  what 
end  this  blow  hath  fallen.  We  can  do  little  more 
than  sit  reverently  at  God's  closed  gates,  and  wait 
until  He  shall  tell  us  more.  Yet  there  are  some 
thoughts  so  naturally  suggested  to  us  that  we  should 
not  be  justified  in  wholly  passing  them  by. 

The  juncture  at  which  the  event  occurred  is  signifi 
cant.  The  President  was  fully  committed  to  a  vigor 
ous  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  to  the  submission  of 
the  rebels  as  the  first  condition  of  peace.  He  was 
reflected  on  this  basis  over  a  man  who,  in  all  human 
probability,  would  have  stopped  the  war  where  it  was, 
patched  up  an  unrighteous  peace,  and  left  the  whole 
fundamental  question  open  for  our  children  to  settle. 
Lincoln  lived  to  see  his  policy  carried  out  —  the 
military  power  of  the  rebellion  broken  ;  and  almost 
at  the  very  hour  of  this  consummation  his  life  was 
cut  short.  I  accept  this  as  an  indication  that  his  work 
as  an  instrument  of  Providence  ended  here,  and  that 
the  work  of  reconstruction  belonged  to  other  and 
doubtless  fitter  instruments.  I  will  not  positively 
assert  that  his  policy  toward  traitors  was  so  much  too 
lenient  that  God  replaced  him  by  a  man  who,  we  have 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  213 

good  reason  to  think,  will  not  err  in  this  direction. 
Yet  I  say  that  this  may  be  so,  and  that  it  looks  like  it. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  man  whose  policy  was  formed  in 
the  light  of  events,  and  in  this  instance  it  had  not 
had  time  to  develop  itself  fully  ;  but  I  have  no  hesita 
tion  in  saying  that  in  so  far  as  it  had  developed  itself, 
it  was  setting,  in  my  opinion,  much  too  strongly  in 
the  direction  of  lenity  and  conciliation.  We  may 
talk  as  we  will  about  the  great  right  of  freedom  of 
speech,  but  if  this  right  be  admitted  to  be  unlimited 
at  all  times,  I  cannot  see  but  that  a  popular  govern 
ment  like  this  deliberately  exposes  itself  to  the  most 
mischievous  of  all  results,  a  perverted  public  opinion. 
I  see  nothing  in  the  letter  or  spirit  of  the  Constitution 
which  should  prevent  such  men  as  Vallandigham  and 
the  Woods,  and  others  who  might  be  named,  whose 
treason  was  open  and  blatant,  and  who,  from  their 
public  position  and  influence,  were  enabled  to  divide 
the  north,  and  give  aid  and  comfort  to  our  enemies  — 
nothing  which  should  prevent  their  mouths  being 
stopped,  and  they  themselves  being  put  beyond  the 
possibility  of  doing  further  mischief.  And  as  for  the 
leading  traitors  of  the  south  —  the  men  who  struck 
their  blow  deliberately  and  with  malice  aforethought — 
who,  for  years  before  the  overt  act,  were  digging  their 
mines  and  laying  their  train,  I  call  upon  the  Christian 
justice  and  common  sense  of  this  nation  to  show  cause 
why  they  should  not  suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of  the 
law  ?  Do  we  not  yet  realize  the  full  significance  of 


214  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

their  crime  ?  Have  we  been  so  free  from  the  damning 
crime  of  treason,  that  we  do  not.  yet  recognize  it,  even 
when  it  comes  to  us  without  pretence  of  disguise? 
Do  we  realize  the  murder  and  outrage  and  desolation 
that  have  followed  in  its  track,  and  are  we  to  stand 
here  to-day  and  clasp  their  blood-stained  hands  in 
ours,  and  welcome  back  to  fellowship  those  who  only 
want  the  opportunity  to  renew  their  devilish  work  ? 
For  one,  I  say  no  !  In  simple  justice  no  !  We  have 
been  all  along  discussing  this  question  on  the  basis  of 
the  right  or  wrong  of  retaliation,  forgetting  that  that 
question  does  not  enter  into  the  consideration  at  all. 
The  question  is  simply  whether  we  will  put  in  force 
the  laws  against  treason  which  we  have  made  for  our 
own  protection.  We  need  to  understand  a  little  more 
clearly  the  true  relations  of  the  divine  law  to  individu 
als  and  to  states  in  forming  a  correct  view  of  this  ques 
tion.  It  is  clear  enough  that  revenge  is  to  have  no  place 
in  an  individual  Christian's  creed.  If  thine  enemy 
hun'ger  feed  him.  If  he  thirst  give  him  drink.  Love  is 
to  be  the  ruling  principle  of  action  between  man  and 
man.  In  God's  law  for  the  regulation  of  communities 
the  same  principle  rules,  but  under  different  manifesta 
tions  ;  manifestations  which  sometimes  blind  us  to  the 
principle.  Let  government  proceed  upon  the  principle 
of  blessing  those  that  curse  it,  and  doing  good  to  those 
that  despitefully  use  it,  and  on  the  instant  you  convert 
government  into  the  great  foster  mother  of  crime  and 
society  into  a  city  of  refuge  for  the  most  depraved 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  215 

villains  upon  earth;  you  forbid  war  in  self  defence: 
you  put  society  at  the  mercy  of  evil.  Now  I  say  that 
in  social  regulations  the  principle  of  love  operates  just 
as  really  as  in  individual  relations.  But  it  operates 
under  the  limitation  that  God  consults  for  the  greatest 
good  of  the  greatest  number,  and  therefore  it  exhibits 
itself  in  those  protections  and  retributions,  which  are 
inseparable  from  lav/.  The  highest  exhibition  of 
mercy  in  such  cases  is  through  strict  retributive 
justice.  So,  if  Jefferson  Davis  comes  to  my  door 
disguised  for  flight,  and  says,  I  am  hungry,  weary, 
thirsty,  though  I  remember  that  my  brother  was 
starved  at  Libby,  or  my  father  shot  at  Andersonville, 
or  my  home  burned  and  my  property  ruined  by  the 
myrmidons  of  this  arch  traitor,  as  a  man  I  am 
bound  to  feed  him  and  rest  him.  But  I  am  a 
citizen  also;  and  I  shall  deserve  to  be  hanged 
myself  if  I  do  not  say  to  him,  you  may  eat  of  my 
bread,  you  may  drink  of  my  cup,  you  may  rest  on  my 
couch,  but  from  this  place  you  shall  not  go  if  I  have 
power  to  stop  you,  until  you  go  in  company  of  the 
provost  marshal  and  his  guards.  We  cannot  afford  to 
be  lenient  to  these  men.  It  has  beeii  said  that  we  have 
triumphed  gloriously  enough,  and  are  strong  enough 
to  forgive.  I  grant  the  fact,  but  deny  the  inference. 
We  do  not  want  our  first  great  public  act  after  our 
victories  to  be  a  wholesale  violation  of  our  own  law  in 
favor  of  the  men  who  have  left  no  means  untried  to 
ruin  us.  In  the  words  of  our  present  executive,  lenity 
28 


216  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

of  the  few  may  be  injustice  to  the  many.  By  an  in 
discriminate  lenity  we  shall  only  be  setting  so  many 
vipers  loose  to  sting  and  to  poison.  It  was  the  spirit 
of  the  conquered  south  that  smote  down  the  President. 
The  hatred  of  free,  institutions,  and  the  spirit  of 
revenge  and  malice  have  not  died  out  with  the  military 
power  of  the  rebellion.  They  are  as  strong  to-day  in 
the  crushed  and  humbled  south  as  on  the  morning 
when  its  bastard  palmetto  first  waved  over  Sumter. 
The  snake  is  scotched,  but  not  killed.  We  owe  some 
thing  to  justice  as  well  as  to  mercy.  Something  to 
self  protection  as  well  as  to  forgiveness ;  and  in  the 
name  of  this  bleeding  country,  in  the  name  of  our 
maimed  and  starved  soldiers,  in  the  name  of  our 
blighted  hearts  and  homes,  I  call  upon  government 
to  put  in  force  against  these  leading  traitors  the 
penalty  of  the  law.  And  I  would  their  gibbet  were 
so  high  that  every  man  north  and  south  might  see  it 
from  his  housetop,  and  learn  as  he  looks  that  treason 
is  not  safe  for  the  perpetrator  :  high  enough  for  the 
despots  of  Europe,  and  its  statesmen  who  have  longed 
for  the  fall  of  the  republic,  to  learn  that  the  republic 
has  yet  strength  enough  and  self  respect  enough  to 
punish  terribly  those  who  strike  at  her  vitals.  Citi 
zens  of  this  community,  gathered  here  to-day,  let  this 
be  our  last  experience  in  the  toleration  of  treason.  It 
has  been  allowed  too  much  liberty  heretofore.  It  is 
time  its  mouth  was  stopped.  If  we  cannot  stop  it  at 
the  south,  we  can  at  least  stop  it  here.  Nothing  less 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  217 

than  this  is  our  duty ;  and  lot  us  go  forth  from,  this 
place  resolved  to  foster  a  public  sentiment  that  shall 
from  this  time  forth,  sternly  though  calmly  and  legally 
silence  the  press  or  the  man,  no  matter  what  his 
position,  that  dares  to  lift  up  a  voice  in  favor  of  ex 
tenuation  of  treason. 

As  another  lesson,  we  are  taught  to  respect  our  own 
government  more ;  to  cherish  it  more  fondly  than 
ever.  "What  has  it  done  for  us  in  the  present  crisis  ? 
There  are  nations  where  such  an  event  would  have 
blocked  the  wheels  of  legislation,  and  thrown  all 
things  into  direst  confusion.  To-day  government 
moves  on  without  a  break  or  jar..  Ere  the  nation's 
ruler  is  scarce  cold  in  death,  his  successor  steps  quiet 
ly  into  his  vacant  place,  without  a  movement  or  a 
remonstrance  from  the  great  nation.  And  the  nation 
itself  but  falls  back  a  pace  to  let  the  retiring  leader's 
bier  pass  out,  to  look  for  one  moment  on  his  beloved 
face,  to  exchange  a  word  on  his  many  virtues,  and 
then  closes  up  fast  and  firm  round  his  successor,  with 
a  sterner  determination  to  push  its  great  work  to  its 
completion. 

Again  we  are  reminded  "Little  children  keep  your 
selves  from  idols."  As  much  as  any  other  people  we 
are  hero  worshipers.  With  all  our  vaunted  independ 
ence,  popular  leaders  sway  us  mightily.  All  through 
this  conflict  God's  voice  has  been  saying  to  us,  as  one 
after  another  of  our  trusted  champions  bit  the  dust, 
"Put  not  your  trust  in  princes."  I  tremble  when  I 


218  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

hear  men  say,  "  Grant  is.  left.  Sherman  is  left.  Sheri 
dan  and  Thomas  are  left."  God  wants  this  nation  to 
trust  in  Him,  and  in  Him  only.  He  comes  to  us  to-day 
in  our  heart-sickness,  and  asks  us  if  we  think  any  man 
or  body  of  men  is  indispensable,  and  dictates  to  us 
our  lesson  again,  "  The  Lord  reigneth!  Let  the  earth 
rejoice!"  And  when  our  leaders  fall,  he  bids  us  not  to 
be  looking  back  to  the  ranks,  anxiously  and  tearfully 
asking:  "What  shall  we  do  now?"  but  foward  to 
where  his  pillar  of  fire  moves  steadily  on  through  the 
night  in  solemn  and  mysterious  majesty,  and  saying 
to  our  fainting  hearts,  "  God  is  left  !  and  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  will  we  set  up  our  banners." 

And  this  event  draws  us  more  closely  together. 
Around  the  coffin  of  our  beloved  dead  we  clasp  hands, 
and  feel  shoulder  touch  shoulder,  and  even  amid  the 
bitterness  of  this  bereavement  it  is  a  blessed  thing  to 
know  that  we  are  more  nearly  one  than  ever.  If  the 
south  had  striven  to  select  the  act  which  of  all  others 
should  concentrate  the  sentiment  of  the  north  against 
her,  which  should  commit  the  whole  people  irrevo 
cably  to  the  completion  of  the  work  they  have  taken 
in  hand,  they  could  not  have  made  a  happier  choice. 
If  anything  were  needed  to  teach  a  certain  class  of 
northern  men  the  true  nature  and  tendencies  of  the 
cause  they  have  been  secretly  favoring,  this  deed  has 
supplied  the  want.  Henceforth,  brothers,  we  go  forth 
more  unitedly  to  our  work.  Henceforth  the  lines  are 
more  sharply  drawn.  Henceforth  we  know  but  two 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  219 

classes — loyal  men  and  traitors.  Northern  men  with 
southern  principles,  I  tell  you  your  skirts  are  not 
clear  of  the  President's  blood.  You  have  fostered  the 
spirit  which  struck  the  blow.  You  have  apologized 
for  it.  You  have  fretted  and  been  angry  at  those  who 
would  insist  that  slavery  was  at  the  root  of  that  care 
lessness  of  human  right  and  human  life,  that  mad 
ambition,  that  aristocratic  folly  which  precipitated 
the  country  into  war.  And  now  the  result  has  justi 
fied  them.  This  last  deed  has  crowned  the  catalogue 
which  has  been  running  up  so  rapidly  for  four  years 
past ;  and  I  do  most  of  you  the  credit  to  believe  that 
from  this,  its  last  work,  you  shrink  aghast.  I  do  you 
the  justice  to  believe  that  your  hearts  equally  with 
mine  condemn  this  deed.  I  could  not  believe  other 
wise  and  believe  you  men.  And  now,  by  the  open 
grave  of  the  nation's  President,  amid  the  tears  of  the 
people,  by  every  consideration  of  national  honor  and 
self-respect,  I  entreat  you  to  look  upon  the  legitimate 
fruit  of  southern  principles,  and  from  this  time  forth, 
in  the  name  of  God  and  humanity,  come  out  from 
among  them  and  be  separate,  and  touch  not  the  un 
clean  thing. 

And  still  we  linger  by  the  open  grave.  One  look 
more  ere  the  clods  fall  and  the  tomb  enfolds  him  in 
its  cold  embrace.  Is  it  not  some  ghastly  nightmare  — 
some  dreadful  dream  from  which  we  shall  awake  by 
and  by  to  find  the  nation  still  undisgraced  by  murder, 
and  him  still  at  the  helm  ?  Alas,  alas  !  the  cold  re- 


220  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

ality  will  not  depart  at  our  bidding.  Abraham  Lin 
coln  is  dead.  Gone  from  a  nation's  burdens  and  a 
nation's  love.  Stricken  down  in  the  fore  front  of  the 
battle  ;  his  great  work  done,  yet  with  his  armor  on, 
in  the  high  noon  of  a  noble,  successful,  God-fearing 
manhood.  And  by  that  sterling  worth,  that  simple 
piety,  that  kindness  and  tenderness,  that  never  falter 
ing  faith  in  God  and  humanity,  he,  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh.  Aye,  speaketh.  I  hear  his  voice  come 
down  to  us  from  the  tranquil  heights  of  his  eternal 

rest  bidding  us  be  true  to   ourselves,  true  to  our  na- 

• 
tional  idea,  true  to  freedom,  true  to  God,  daring  to  be 

just  though  the   heavens  fall.     I  hear  him  saying  to 
the  nation:  "Away  with  these  idle  tears,  these  vain 
regrets ;  ye  have  no  time  now  for  lamentation  ; 
'  The  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  at  hand, 
Its  storms  roll  up  the  sky/ 

and  the  meekest  of  saints  may  find  stern  work  to  do. 
Up  and  be  doing  !" 

"We  hear  thee  beloved  leader,  and  here,  beside  thy 
tomb,  we  put  off  our  sackcloth  and  ashes  and  take 
our  armor  to  ourselves  again.  We  turn  our  faces  to 
the  future,  and  from  under  the  shadow  of  this  dispen 
sation  we  go  forth  with  girded  loins  and  trimmed 
lamps  and  in  God's  strength  to  work  out  our  destiny. 
We  leave  thee  with  God  on  thy  mount  of  vision, 
and  press  on  at  the  beck  of  our  new  leader  to  that 
promised  land  which  thou  sawest  from  afar,  but  wert 
not  permitted  to  enter ;  press  on,  bearing  the  inspi- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  221 

ration  of  thy  courage  into  battles  yet  to  come.  And 
thou  shalt  be  gloriously  avenged  one  day.  Thou 
shalt  be  avenged  when  our  Union,  the  object  of  thy 
dearest  desire,  shall  stand  cemented  anew,  "  now  and 
forever,  one  and  inseparable."  Thou  shalt  be 
avenged  in  every  look  which  down-trodden  humanity 
shall  send  across  the  sea  to  our  land,  then,  as  never 
before,  the  home  of  the  oppressed.  Thou  shalt  be 
avenged  when  one  heart  and  one  mind  shall  animate 
the  people ;  when  Americans  shall  know  no  north, 
no  south,  and  one  starry  flag,  the  dear  old  banner 
which  was  the  joy  of  thine  eyes,  covers  with  its  ample 
folds  the  children  of  those  who  now  thirst  for  each 
others  blood.  Thou  shalt  be  avenged  when  the  echo 

of  war  shall  have  died  out  from  our  hillsides,  and 
* 

the  war  desolated  land  be  blossoming  like  a  paradise 
beneath  the  willing  hand  of  free  industry.  Thou 
shalt  be  avenged  when,  beneath  the  palmetto's  shade, 
Africa's  sons  shall  teach  their  children  to  lisp  thy 
name,  and  bedew  thine  immortal  charter  with  their 
grateful  tears.  Oh !  even  amid  the  grand  realities 
which  ere  this  have  dawned  upon  thy  vision,  thou 
shalt  not  surely  be  so  far  removed  from  sympathy 
with  the  land  thou  lovedst  and  diedst  for,  that  thou 
wilt  not  follow  her  career  with  thy  spirit  gaze,  and 
smile  with  heavenly  joy,  when  thou  shalt  see  peace 
within  her  walls  and  prosperity  within  her  palaces. 
And  so,  till  our  work  be  done,  and  we  follow  thee 
into  the  silence,  we  bid  thee  farewell.  Sleep  !  -be- 


222  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

loved  ruler !  Rest !  great,  tender,  careworn  heart ! 
Sleep  sweetly  in  the  bosom  of  the  "West,  while  the 
gratitude  of  the  clown-trodden  and  the  love  of  the 
nation  gather  like  clustering  vines  round  thy  tomb, 
and  thy  monument  points  through  the  years  to 
heaven,  telling  the  oppressed  of  a  liberator  and  the 
tyrant  of  an  avenger. 

"  Uplifted  high  in  heart  and  hope  are  we, 
Until  we  doubt  not  that,  for  one  so  true 
There  must  be  other,  nobler  work  to  do, 
And  victor  he  must  ever  be. 
For  tho'  the  giant  ages  heave  the  hill, 
And  break  the  shore,  and  evermore 
Make  and  break  and  work  their  will; 
Tho'  worlds  on  worlds  in  myriad  myriads  roll 
Round  us,  each  with  different  powers, 
And  other  forms  of  life  than  ours,  * 

What  know  we  greater  than  the  soul? 
On  God  and  godlike  men  we  build  our  trust. 
Hush  !     The  dead-march  wails  in  the  people's  ears : 
The  dark  crowd  moves,  and  there  are  sobs  and  tears; 
The  black  earth  yawns;  the  mortal  disappears; 
Ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust : 
He  is  gone  who  seemed  so  great, 
Gone,  but  nothing  can  bereave  him 
Of  the  force  he  made  his  own 
Being  here,  and  we  believe  him 
Something  far  advanced  in  state 
And  that  he  wears  a  truer  crown 
Than  any  wreath  that  man  can  weave  him. 
But  speak  no  more  of  his  renown. 
Lay  your  earthly  fancies  down 
And  in  the  vast  cathedral  leave  him ; 
God  accept  ham  —  Christ  receive  him." 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  223 

THE  NATION'S  SORROW.  —  SUBSTANCE  OF  A  SERMON 
PREACHED  IN  THE  STATE  STREET  METHODIST  EPIS 
COPAL  CHURCH. 

BY   REV.    ERASTUS    WENTWORTH,    D.D. 

And  devout  men  carried  Stephen  to  his  burial,  and  made  great  lamenta 
tion  over  him. — ACTS,  viii,  2. 

Rendering  funeral  honors  to  the  dead  is  an  imme 
morial  custom  as  widespread  as  the  human  race.  The 
oldest  records,  poetic  and  historical,  throw  abundant 
light  upon  the  burial  usages  of  the  ancients.  In 
Homer's  Iliad  an  entire  book  is  devoted  to  the  de 
scription  of  the  rites  and  games  celebrated  by  the 
Greeks  in  honor  of  the  slain  Patroclus.  The  funeral 
panegyrics  of  Pericles  and  Demosthenes  were  gems 
of  eloquence  and  ranked  with  the  most  admired  com 
positions  of  classical  antiquity. 

The  honors  paid  by  Abraham  to  the  remains  of 
Sarah,  are  chronicled  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  in  an 
account  as  minute,  and  almost  as  long  as  that  of  the 
creation  by  the  same  author. 

Jacob,  when  led  by  his  treacherous  sons  to  believe 
that  Joseph  was  dead,  rent  his  clothes,  put  sackcloth 
upon  his  loins,  mourned  for  his  son  many  days  and 
said,  "Twill  go  down  into  the  grave  unto  my  son 
mourning." 

When  this  patriarch  died  at  a  great  age  in  Egypt, 
he  was  embalme^  with  care,  mourned  by  the  Egyptians 
seventy  days,  escorted  to  Canaan  with  a  grand  funeral 

29 


224  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

procession  and  there  bewailed  with  such  sore  lamenta 
tion,  that  the  wondering  Canaanites  said  "this  is  a 
grievous  mourning  to  the  Egyptians,"  and  the  place  of 
their  seven  days'  weeping  was  thenceforward  popularly 
designated  as  the  "Egyptians'  Mourning." 

The  hones  of  Joseph  accompanied  the  Israelites  as  a 
sacred  deposit  during  all  their  forty  years'  wander 
ing.  "  The  children  of  Israel  wept  for  Moses  in  the 
plains  of  Moab  thirty  days."  "  Samuel  died  ;  and  all 
the  Israelites  were  gathered  together*,  and  lamented 
him,  and  buried  him  in  his  house  at  Bamah." 

David  pronounced  eulogies  full  of  pathos  and 
beauty  over  the  murdered  Abner  and  the  slaughtered 
Jonathan  and  Saul,  though  the  latter  was  a  suicide, 
who  would  have  been  condemned  in  our  days  to 
"  maim-ed  rites,"  and  "ground  unsanctified,"  "with 
out  requiem"  and  the  "bringing  home  of  bell  and 
burial." 

In  honor  of  the  dead,  the  ancient  Jews  rent  their 
clothes,  dressed  in  sackcloth  and  black,  put  ashes  and 
dust  on  their  heads,  shaved  their  heads,  removed  their 
ornaments,  diminished  their  temple  offerings,  went 
half  naked,  wept,  wailed  and  fasted,  beat  their  breasts, 
lay  on  the  ground,  and  employed  hired  mourners. 
Customs  like  these  are  common  throughout  Asia  at 
the  present  day,  and  in  modified  forms  they  exist 
throughout  the  world.  They  were  not  condemned 
by  the  great  Author  of  Christianity.*  On  the  eve  of 
his  betrayal,  when,  in  the  house  of  Simon  of  Beth- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  225 

any,  the  gentle  Mary,  with,  impatient  haste,  broke  the 
beautiful  alabaster  casket  and  lavished  its  precious 
odors  upon  the  person  of  her  beloved  master,  the 
disciples  were  indignant  at  the  costly  waste,  but 
Christ  defended  her  devotion,  saying,  "  Let  her  alone ; 
she  hath  wrought  a  good  work  on  me,  she  is  come 
aforehand  to  anoint  my  body  to  the  burying !" 

The  devoted  Arimathean  sepulchered  the  body  of 
Jesus  with  every  honor  that  night  and  secrecy  would 
allow,  and  the  Marys  prepared  spices  and  ointments 
with  which  to  embalm  the  sacred  remains  of  the 
revered  Master.  Of  the  first  Christian  martyr  it  is 
recorded,  "  Devout  men  carried  Stephen  to  his  burial, 
and  made  great  lamentation  over  him."  From  these 
Scripture  examples  we  infer  that  it  is  not  unchristian 
to  honor  the  dead ;  that  tears,  lamentations,  weeds  of 
woe,  and  words  of  eulogy  are  alike  in  the  order  of 
nature  and  the  order  of  God,  sanctioned  by  universal 
custom  and  not  forbidden  by  the  Christian  religion. 

It  is  true  that  Christianity,  by  its  genius,  inculcates 
moderation  in  grief,  economy  in  expenditure,  and 
truthfulness  in  eulogy.  We  need  not  beat  our 
breasts  and  tear  our  hair  or  howl  like  savages.  We 
need  not  lavish  such  sums  upon  monuments  and 
mausoleums  as  to  require  penal  restrictions  like  the 
ancient  Greeks.  We  need  not  use  such  words  of 
fulsome  adulation,  lying  eulogy  and  panegyric  as 
have  been  the  custom  with  other  countries  and 
other  ages.  We  need  not  make  a  wholesale  applica- 


226  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

tion  of  the  motto,  "De  mortuis  nil  nisi  bonum," 
concerning  the  dead  say  nothing  but  good,  but  we 
may  and  should  bury  our  dead  with  a  suitable  amount 
of  that  respect  that  has  been  shown  to  the  dead  in  all 
ages  and  countries.  It  is  this  attention  to  the  dead 
that  distinguishes  man  from  the  animal  races,  that 
vindicates  his  claim  to  superior  reason  in  this  life  and 
points  to  immortality. 

Honors  paid  to  the  dead  are  a  stimulus  to  every 
one  so  to  live  as  to  deserve  eulogy  at  his  death.  It 
was  a  wholesome  custom,  that  of  some  of  our  Indian 
tribes,  not  to  bury  a  man  unless  somebody  could  say 
something  good  of  him.  It  was  a  fearful  curse,  that 
of  Jehovah  upon  Jehoiakim  king  of  Judah.  "They 
shall  not  lament  for  him,  saying  Ah,  my  brother!  Ah, 
Lord !  or,  Ah,  his  glory !  He  shall  be  buried  with 
the  burial  of  an  ass,  drawn  and  cast  forth  beyond  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem." 

Eulogies  after  death  will  avail  nothing  unless  we 
have  deserved  them  while  living.  The  best  of  eulo 
gies  is  a  good  life.  It  is  impossible  to  cover  up  a  bad 
life  with  a  speech  at  a  funeral  or  a  lying  epitaph.  It 
may  not  be  said  of  us  aa  great  man  and  a  prince  hath 
fallen,"  but  it  may  be  said  by  every  passer  by,  this  is 
the  grave  of  a  good  man.  Character  is  immortal.  It 
dies  not,  it  will  not  lie  down  in  the  ground.  Ghosts 
in  graveyards  is  an  exploded  superstition,  but,  about 
the  costly  obelisks  of  the  cities  of  the  dead,  springing 
up  in  the  green  wood,  in  the  suburbs  of  every  city 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  227 

and  village,  reputations  flit,  like  troubled  ghosts 
about  the  shores  of  Styx  and  Acheron  in  the  ancient 
Hades. 

To-day  we  are  a  nation  of  mourners.  The  horror 
that  brooded  over  our  hearts  like  a  pall  of  hell's  own 
weaving,  as  the  telegraph  winged  over  the  land  the 
news  of  the  assassination,  has  given  place  to  grief  and 
tears. 

On  "Wednesday  last,  at  high  noon,  the  people  of  the 
United  States  assembled  in  their  places  of  worship  to 
celebrate  the  funeral  services  of  their  murdered  Chief. 
Never  before  was  such  universal  and  spontaneous 
homage  paid  to  the  memory  of  mortal.  Never  before 
were  so  many  millions  gathered  at  the  same  hour  to 
honor  the  obsequies  of  one  man.  The  funerals  of 
other  days  have  been  celebrated  piecemeal  or  as  an 
after  thought.  Here,  thanks  to  the  telegraph,  our 
entire  nation  stood  around  the  bier  and  over  the  open 
coffin  of  our  common  head.  And  that  wonderful 
funeral  procession !  to  reach,  without  figure,  from  the 
capital  of  the  nation  to  the  capital  of  Illinois,  —  six 
teen  hundred  miles  !  When  did  the  world  ever  before 
witness  such  a  funeral  cortege  !  It  is  true,  only  the 
hearse  with  nine  cars  flies  along  the  rails,  but  every 
where,  from  city  and  hamlet,  mountain,  vale  and  prai 
rie,  it  raises  and  carries  along  with  it  a  mighty  tide 
wave  of  mourning  humanity.  Everywhere  it  rolls 
through  an  avenue  walled  on  either  side  with  silent 
crowds,  uncovered,  unsurging,  tearful;  its  approach 


228  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

heralded  and  its  departure  signaled  by  tolling  bells 
and  booming  cannon.  By  day  it  flies  through  cities 
and  villages  covered  with  weeds  of  woe,  and  by  night, 
flaming  torches  mark  its  course  and  show  the  tears 
glittering  like  blood  drops  on  the  bronzed  cheeks  of 
rural  populations.  Everywhere  flags  at  half  mast, 
dirges  by  martial  bands,  and  requiems  at  the  stations 
sung  by  young  men  and  maidens.  Everywhere 
weeping  and  eulogies,  music  and  flowers.  Was  there 
ever  such  attendance  upon  the  relics  of  one  not  regally 
born  ?  It  is  a  nation's  tribute  to  a  citizen  ruler  whose 
firmness  and  integrity,  quaint  shrewdness  and  blunt 
common  sense  have  carried  it  through  a  terrible  crisis 
in  its  history  and  given  liberty  to  millions. 

The  nation  is  right  in  paying  the  highest  funeral 
honors  to  our  late  departed  Chief  Magistrate.  We 
owe  it  to  our  national  self  respect.  Shall  the  head  of 
the  family,  the  father,  the  Saviour  of  the  nation  die, 
and  the  children  not  mourn  ? 

The  nation  thus  reproves  crime.  Slavery,  secession, 
treason,  assassination,  barbarism,  stand  aghast  in  the 
presence  of  this  sublime  outburst  of  national  sorrow. 
The  bloody  corpse  of  Lucretia  expelled  the  Tarquins 
from  Rome.  The  bloody  fragments  of  the  murdered 
wife  of  a  Levite  thrilled  all  Israel  with  horror,  and 
they  well-nigh  exterminated  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  for 
abetting  the  murder.  The  bloody  corpse  of  our 
murdered  chief,  carried  in  solemn  procession  through 
the  country,  will  leave  in  its  funeral  train  the  solemn 


LINCOLN  MEMOEIAL.  229 

purpose  to  visit  vengeance  upon  traitors  and  treason. 
By  these  rites  the  nation  honors  goodness,  honesty, 
integrity.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  a  church  mem 
ber,  but  he  was  a  Christian  and  Iqd  a  life  of  virtue  and 
a  life  of  prayer.  He  was  the  Christian  head  of  a 
Christian  nation,  and  deserves  Christian  burial. 

His  sudden  and  tragical  death  has  inspired  the 
nation  with  mutual  forbearance,  sympathy,  unity, 
fraternity.  Political  papers  have  moderated  their 
acerbity.  Opposing  parties  shake  hands  over  the 
coffin  of  their  common  father,  and  agree  to  bury  past 
animosities  and  to  stand  nobly  by  his.  successor  in  this 
hour  of  trial.  It  is  due  to  the  idiocy  and  malignity 
of  human  nature,  that  a  few  pitiful  souls  spit  upon 
his  bier,  and  trample  on  these  universal  weeds  of 
mourning,  but  the  grand  record  of  history  will  be 
"  A  devout  nation  carried  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  to  his 
burial,  and  made  great  lamentation  over  him." 

SUBSTANCE  or  A  SERMON  PREACHED  AT  THE  UNITARIAN 
CHURCH. 


BY  REV.   EDGAR  BUCKINGHAM. 


We  trusted  that  it  had  been  he  which  should  have  redeemed  Israel. — 
LUKE,  xxiv,  21. 

We  are  not  required  by  public  proclamation,  nor 
induced  by  general  expectation  to  spend  again  our 
Sunday  hour  in  lessons  drawn  directly  from  the  death 
of  the  President.  The  hearts  of  the  people  are  full 
with  this  single  subject  of  thought,  and  it  is  well  to 


230  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

continue  our  more  careful  consideration  of  it.  I  have 
drawn  a  text  from  the  disappointment  experienced  by 
the  veneration,  the  love  and  tenderness  of  the  disci 
ples,  at  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ.  Not  that  a  com 
parison  could  be  suggested  with  the  Divine  Master. 
The  great  hopes  which  are  before  us,  and  the  pleasure 
we  should  have  enjoyed  in  arriving  at  the  fulfillment 
of  them  with  him  for  our  leader  who  has  been  our 
leader  through  the  depths  of  our  anxieties,  call  to 
mind  peculiarly  the  sad  disappointment  of  great  hopes 
expressed  in  the  language  of  the  text. 

The  minds  of  the  people  cannot  fail  to  be  long  and 
deeply  aifected.  From  so  lofty  a  position,  such  a  sud 
den  removal !  So  great  responsibilities,  so  suddenly 
laid  down  !  Prospects  so  bright,  to  human  view  so  sud 
denly  darkened !  The  great  dependence  of  the  nation, 
so  suddenly  transferred  to  another,  who  had  never 
expected  to  bear  it!  An  event  so  sudden  in  private 
life,  or  to  a  man  respected  only  for  superior  powers  of 
mind,  would  have  been  fearfully  impressive.  If  the 
President  had  been  no  more  to  us  than  a  common 
statesman,  or  one  only  in  the  common  line  of  the 
chief-magistracy,  or  if  he  had  died  wearied  out 
with  his  great  labors,  after  long  sickness  at  the  execu 
tive  mansion,  the  community  would  have  been 
religiously  impressed.  How  much  more  are  we  likely 
to  be  so,  under  the  existing  circumstances,  and  for 
such  a  man ! 

I  do  not  mean  to  speak  additional  words  of  eulogy. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  231 

But  few  men  in  public  station  have  ever  inspired  so 
much*  confidence  and  secured  so  much  attachment 
and  love.  We  cast  about  in  our  minds,  to  study  into 
the  feelings  with  which  he  has  affected  us.  Promi 
nent  among  the  influences  with  which  his  exalted  life 
and  character  have  wrought  upon  us,  seems  this : —  in 
his  justice,  he  made  integrity  seem  more  true.  If,  in 
the  rivalships  of  the  world,  its  covetousness,  its  over- 
reachings,  its  other  various  transgressions,  we  have 
ever  indulged  the  common  sentiment,  that  honesty 
was  rare,  or  that  it  was  feebly  lived,  or  have  felt  that? 
perhaps,  because  it  was  rare,  it  had  less  intrinsic  worth 
than  nature  or  religion  seemed  to  assign  to  it,  we  felt, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  living 
example  of  the  value  of  it.  Through  him,  it  seemed 
to  be  gaining  a  new  life  for  the  world.  The  life  of  it, 
which  he  lived,  outweighed  in  our  minds  the  example 
of  millions  on  the  other  side.  In  this  way,  he,  with 
the  broad  bulwark  of  his  personal  character,  helped 
to  sustain  the  general  morality.  Temptation  has  less 
power,  honesty  arrives  at  more  honor,  integrity  holds 
a  more  substantial  life. 

There  circulates,  we  have  found,  through  the  public 
prints,  some  mention  of  professions  or  acknowledg 
ments  made  by  him,  corresponding  to  the  usual  pro 
fessions  in  the  church,  of  religious  faith  or  religious 
experience.  Of  the  full  truth  of  such  accounts,  or 
whether  only  partially  or  in  some  sense  true,  we  have 

to-day  and  here  no  means  of  determining.     But  this 

30 


232  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

may  be  known  by  all.  A  spirit  of  religion,  not  a 
conventional  religiousness,  not  one  artificial  or  imita 
tive,  but  a  simple,  natural  appeal  to  God,  to  his  pre 
sence  and  his  law,  we  find  underfiowing  through  all 
his  conduct,  and  making  its  appearance  in  all  his 
public  writings.  And  such  has  been  the  impressive- 
ness  of  his  simplicity,  and  such  is  the  confidence 
reposed  in  his  truth,  that  thousands  will  become 
reverential  and  obedient  through  the  influence  of  his 
public  religiousness. 

In  the  homeliness  of  his  conversation,  the  playful 
ness  of  his  talk  has  endeared  him  to  people's  hearts. 
Much  as  his  jests  have  been  questioned  about,  they 
have  had  a  great  value.  They  have  showed  to  us  that 
he  was  at  home  with  himself,  not  acting  a  part.  For 
though  laughter  is  sometimes  affected,  yet  it  is  among 
the  sincerest  of  all  things  ;  and  when  it  is  not  assumed 
for  show,  to  secure  applause,  or  made  use  of  for  ridi 
cule  or  bitterness  (and  when  it  it  is  used  for  such 
purposes,  its  character  is  easily  seen  through),  it  is 
like  sunrise  on  the  brook,  which  proves  that  the  ripples 
are  not  frozen,  or  flowers  of  the  forest,  that  prove  the 
richness  of  the  soil.  It  cannot  indeed  be  financially 
reckoned,  or  arithmetically,  nor  can  the  sweep  of  the 
swallow,  or  the  chattering  on  the  trees,  which  tell  the 
beauty  of  the  year  and  announce  the  summer.  So  in 
the  nature  of  man,  the  overabundance  of  power  in 
the  ease  of  his  work  shows  itself,  at  last,  in  playful 
ness.  When  a  friend  smiles  upon  us,  we  know  that 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  233 

he  loves  us.  The  playful  jests  of  the  social  circle 
reveal  character.  Formality  and  hypocrisy,  art  and 
concealment,  they  show  to  be  at  an  end.  They  put 
people  in  natural  relations;  they  unite  them  in  cordial 
intimacies.  And  the  homely  conversation  of  our  late 
President  has  enabled  the  people  to  see  him  as  a  man  of 
truth,  not  a  mask ;  not  an  abstraction,  but  a  human 
being  ;  not  an  official  magistrate,  not  an  incarnation 
of  diplomatic  intrigue,  or  a  state  machine,  but  a  man  ; 
an  honest  man  ;  and  a  friend. 

*         *         *         *         *         *         # 

The  suddenness  of  the  death  of  one  so  distinguished 
quickens  our  sense  of  the  unsubstantial  condition 
of  earthly  things  ;  it  makes  many  highest  earthly 
hopes  seem  of  little  importance.  How  many  persons 
have  paused,  in  the  midst  of  daily  occupations,  this 
last  week,  in  worldly  ambitions  and  in  household 
cares,  seeming  to  think  for  a  moment,  i  all  is  worth 
less.'  His  death  has  cheapened  many  things.  How 
many  affectations  it  has  rebuked !  how  many  false 
desires  it  has  unmasked !  how  much  of  the  love  of 
power  it  has  shaken !  how  it  has  appeased  the  fever 
of  the  world !  How  it  has  renewedly  taught  us,  im 
pressing  the  common  thought,  gain  what  you  will, 
wealth,  position,  applause  or  opportunity,  all  will  end. 
Your  house  you  shall  leave  behind  you ;  your  wealth, 
another  shall  spend ;  your  power  you  shall  lay  down 
in  the  grave ;  you  shall  breathe  out  your  last  breath, 
and  never  breathe  more. 


234  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Is  life  a  breath  ?  Is  nothing  abiding  ?  "  We  are  such 
stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of,  and  our  little  life  is 
rounded  with  a  sleep."  Yes;  though  substantial 
man  seems  to  fade  as  doth  a  leaf,  or  like  a  cloud 
exhale,  we  rest,  and  we  cannot  fail  to  rest  in  the 
sense  that  there  are  realities.  And  though  we  do  not 
find  them  where  we  thought  to,  yet  to.  our  feelings, 
never  were  the  realities  of  existence  more  sure,  more 
trusted  in,  more  dear  than  now.  Personal  vices, 
moral  corruption,  the  infidelity  of  the  heart,  the  spirit 
of  selfishness,  these  have  gained  no  new  power.  But 
a  good  life,  a  pure  character,  a  loving  spirit,  appear 
more  valuable,  in  the  great  account  we  make  of  the 
estimate  of  existence.  Patriotism  is  real ;  sincerity 
is  real ;  goodness  and  love  never  seemed  more  real 
than  now.  The  infinite  distinction  between  right  and 
wrong  does  not  pass  into  the  order  of  the  insubstan- 
tialities.  Crime  never  was  more  abhorrent ;  vice  never 
was  more  repulsive.  We  love  our  kindred  and  our 
friends  to-day,  with  a  tenderer,  truer  love ;  for  true 
life  and  human  souls  appear  possessed  of  a  reality  we 
never  so  clearly  saw  in  them  before.  Our  own  soul's 
existence,  our  immortal  being,  our  sense  of  responsi 
bility  to  the  eternal  Law,  all  that  God  has  taught  us 
of  life  and  of  Himself,  these  show  themselves  real  now. 
We  gaze,  in  spirit,  through  the  opening,  by  which 
the  departed  rises  to  eternity,  and  worship  before 
the  revelation  of  the  throne  of  God.  The  music  of 
angels  breaks  upon  our  ear.  We  return  to  daily 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  235 

occupations,  if  startled  at  unrealities  here,  comforted, 
strengthened,  blessed  in  the  sense  of  a  universal  and 
infinite  reality. 

By  this  distinguished,  sudden  death,  we  are  renew- 
edly  impressed  with  the  sense  of  the  superiority  of 
the  greatest  virtues  to  men's  appreciation,  and  the 
constant  refusal  of  the  world  to  receive  and  endure 
exalted  worth.  We  have  thought  it  mysterious  in 
the  providence  of  God,  that  martyrs  must  shed  their 
blood  as  the  seed  of  the  church,  and  the  precious  life 
of  the  patriot  be  given  for  his  country  and  humanity. 
Yet  do  not  gaze  at  this  common  truth  with  wonder, 
nor  consider  the  appointment  too  hard,  nor  lament  as 
inexplicable  the  danger  of  virtue,  the  persecution  of 
the  great  and  good.  It  seems  the  universal  law,  just, 
and  sublime,  and  a  part  of  nature's  order.  The  soul 
tends  to  break  through  all  mortal  confines.  Neither 
with  the  body,  nor  among  mortal  men  does  it  find  its 
most  appropriate  or  final  home.  As  it  exerts  itself 
more  highly  and  laboriously,  see  how  thin  becomes  its 
fieshly  covering.  The  thinker's  eye  is  never  that  of 
the  unthinking  clown.  The  face  illumined  by  love, 
sanctified  by  purity,  impressed  with  holy  and  sublime 
resolution,  shows  to  the  world  the  power  of  the  soul 
within.  No  artist  can  depict  on  canvass,  or  cut  in 
marble,  or  describe  in  words  the  expression  we  be 
hold.  It  is  the  soul.  We  recognize  it;  and  stand 
awed  at  its  power  and  its  loveliness.  The  body  can 
not  confine  it,  or  cover  and  conceal  it. 


236  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

So  men  cannot,  with  their  confining,  controlling 
power,  hold  in  the  virtue  that  is  too  large  for  human 
comprehension.  They  bind  it ;  they  resist  its  growth 
and  expansion  in  the  good  man's  soul  and  its  influ 
ence  in  the  world,  as  the  husk  binds  in  •  the  tender 
leaf,  the  sprouting  branches  in  the  spring  of  the  year. 
Men  forbid  advancement  beyond  their  own.  They 
seek  to  silence  the  free  speech  of  patriotism  and  re 
ligion,  to  prevent  the  thought  even  that  reaches  out 
beyond  their  knowledge  and  their  view.  Littleness 
is  safe  with  them.  It  may  be  prosperous  and  honored. 
It  is  understood.  The  world,  in  looking  at  the  com 
mon  thought  and  common  virtue,  sees  what  it  sees, 
knows  what  it  knows,  and  fears  no  danger  from  what 
it  has  long  been  acquainted  with,  whose  limitations  it 
understands,  whose  thought  and  power  do  not  interfere 
with  its  ambitions,  its  possessions  and  its  pleasures. 
But  every  highest  thought  frightens  it  with  fear  of 
danger,  even  when  the  great  man's  thought  is  only 
"doing  it  most  good.  So,  reverently,  Christ  died  what 
may  be  termed  a  natural  death.  Patriots  and  saints, 
before  and  since,  bruise  themselves  against  the  world 
that  surround  them ;  for  the  antagonism  is  natural 
and  inevitable. 

And  we  ourselves,  of  humblest  life,  in  every  hum 
blest  duty,  illustrate  the  same  great  law.  The  spirit 
too  pure  for  earthly  principles,  consents  to  break 
through  mortal  barriers,  to  deny  pleasure,  to  resist 
the  world,  to  refuse  honor, — the  same  law  of  suffer- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  237 

ing,  —  (if  it  must  be  called  by  such  a  name)  — the  same 
law  of  suffering  in  duty  being  everywhere  met  with, 
because  earth  and  the  world  are  too  narrow  for  the 
soul. 

But  do  we  lament  the  conditions  ?  The  buried 
seed  bursts  through  into  the  darkness  of  earth  and  the 
soil,  before  it  pushes  its  way  above  the  superincum 
bent  clod,  to  rise  to  air  and  sunlight  to  grow  in  fresh 
ness,  life  and  beauty. 


MEETING  or  THE  CONCOEDIA  SOCIETY. 
The  Concordia  society,  a  German  literary  and  social 
union,  met  at  their  hall  on  Elver  street  for  the  purpose 
of  commemorating  the  sad  and  untimely  death  of 
President  Lincoln.  The  room  which  was  filled  with 
an  attentive  audience,  was  draped  in  mourning.  Mr. 
Frank  Hartsfeld,  the  president  of  the  association, 
began  the  exercises  of  the  evening  with  a  few  intro 
ductory  remarks,  saying  that  as  there  were  in  the  lives 
of  individuals  certain  days  more  important  than 
others,  so  in  the  lives  of  nations  there  were  days  dis 
tinguished  by  great  events.  In  the  latter  portion  of 
the  life  of  this  nation  two  of  the  important  days  were 
the  fourteenth  of  April,  1861,  when  Sumter  fell  and 
the  war  began,  and  that  same  day  four  years  later, 
when  the  flag  of  our  country  was  again  raised  over 
that  redeemed  fortress  and  the  war  was  ended.  This 
last  day  obtains  even  greater  significance,  from  the 


238  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

fact  that  during  its  passing  hours,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
the  most  distinguished  of  our  citizens  and  the  Presi 
dent  of  this  nation,  was  assassinated. 

Prof.  P.  H.  Baermann,  in  a  very  forcible  speech, 
urged  his  hearers  to  take  warning  from  the  past,  and 
under  all  circumstances  and  on  all  occasions  to  record 
themselves  on  the  side  of  right  and  humanity.  He 
spoke  at  length  concerning  the  solution  effected  by 
the  war,  of  some  of  the  most  momentous  difficulties  in 
the  problem  of  our  national  life.  In  referring  to  the 
event  which  had  stirred  so  deeply  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  he  said  that  although  we  had  lost  in  Abraham 
Lincoln,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  time,  God  in 
His  providence  had  preserved  his  life  long  enough  to 
see  the  end,  virtually,  of  the  rebellion  and  of  the 
accursed  institution  of  slavery. 

Short  addresses  were  also  made  by  the  Rev.  H.  G. 
Salomon,  Rev.  Jonas  Heilbron,  and  Mr.  Henry 
Staude,  after  which  the  meeting  was  dissolved. 

MONDAY,  APRIL  24TH,  1865. 

The  proclamation  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  recommending  to  the  nation  the  observance  of 
a  day  of  humiliation  and  mourning,  forms  a  part  of 
the  history  of  the  times,  and  is  here  presented. 

PROCLAMATION  BY  THE  PRESIDENT. 

Whereas,  By  my  direction,  the  acting  secretary  of 
state,  in  a  notice  to  the  public  on  the  seventeenth  of 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  239 

April,  requested  the  various  religious  denominations 
to  assemble  on  the  nineteenth  of  April,  on  the  occa 
sion  of  the  obsequies  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  late  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  and  to  observe  the  same 
with  appropriate  ceremonies  ;  and 

Whereas,  Our  country  has  become  one  great  house 
of  mourning,  where  the  head  of  the  family  has  been 
taken  away,  and  believing  that  a  special  period  should 
be  assigned  for  again  humbling  ourselves  before 
Almighty  God,  in  order  that  the  bereavement  may  be 
sanctified  to  the  nation  ; 

Now,  therefore,  in  order  to  mitigate  that  grief  on 
earth  which  can  only  be  assuaged  by  communion  with 
the  Father  in  heaven,  and  in  compliance  with  the  wishes 
of  senators  and  representatives  in  congress,  commu 
nicated  to  me  by  a  resolution  adopted  at  the  national 
Capitol,  I,  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United 
States,  do  hereby  appoint  Thursday,  the  twenty-fifth 
day  of  May  next,  to  be  observed  wherever  in  the 
United  States  the  flag  of  the  country  may  be  respect 
ed  as  a  day  of  humiliation  and  mourning,  and  I 
recommend  my  fellow  citizens  then  to  assemble  in  their 
respective  places  of  worship,  there  to  unite  in  solemn 
service  to  Almighty  God,  in  memory  of  the  good 
man  who  has  been  removed,  so  that  all  shall  be  occu 
pied  at  the  same  time  in  contemplation  of  his  virtues, 
and  sorrow  for  his  sudden  and  violent  end. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 
31 


240  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  twenty-fourth 
day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-five,  and  of  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  the  eighty-ninth. 

By  the  President : 

ANDREW  JOHNSON. 

W.  HUNTER,  Acting  Secretary  of  State,* 

• 
COMMON  COUNCIL  PROCEEDINGS. 

SPECIAL  MEETING. 

Monday,  April  24th,  1865. 

Members  present : — Hon.  Uri  Gilbert,  mayor;  Hon. 
John  Moran,  recorder,  and  Aldermen  Cox,  Fales, 
Fitzgerald,  Hay,  Hislop,  Haight,  Harrity,  Kemp,  Mc- 
Manus,  Morris,  Prentice,  Stanton,  Smart,  Starbuck, 
Sears,  Stannard. 

The  mayor  stated  that  he  had  received  an  invitation 
from  the  Albany  common  council  for  the  board  to 
take  part  in  the  obsequies  of  the  late  President 
Lincoln,  on  "Wednesday  next ;  that  he  had  communi 
cated  with  the  authorities  at  Albany,  and  tendered  an 
invitation,  as  requested,  to  Col.  McConihe,  of  the 
twenty-fourth  regiment,  which  had  been  accepted. 
He  had  called  the  board  together  to  take  further 
action. 

On  motion  of  the  recorder,  the  invitation  of  the 

*  The  first  day  of  June  was  afterwards^  substituted  for  the  day 
recommended  in  this  proclamation. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  241 

Albany  common  council  was  accepted,  and  a  com 
mittee  of  five  was  appointed  to  make  arrangements  for 
the  board  to  attend  the  funeral.  Aldermen  Kemp, 
McManus,  Morris,  Prentice  and  Hay  were  appointed 
as  such  committee.  Mayor  Gilbert  was  added  to  the 
committee,  to  extend  invitations  to  any  distinguished 
guests  whom  it  might  be  desirable  to  invite. 

On  motion  of  Alderman  Starbuck,  the  mayor  was 
desired  to  request  citizens  to  close  their  places  of 
business  from  twelve  to  four  o'clock  on  Wednesday 
next. 

Then,  on  motion,  the  board  adjourned. 

JAMES  S.  THORN,  City  Clerk. 

THE  GUARD  OF  HONOR. 

Officers  who  have  served  in  the  war,  with  those  at 
present  in  the  service,  and  private  soldiers  who  have 
taken  part  in  putting  down  the  rebellion,  are  to  form 
a  guard  of  honor  next  "Wednesday  at  the  obsequies. 
The  Albany  officers  held  a  meeting,  this  morning, 
and  resolved  to  invite  Troy  officers  and  soldiers  to 
take  part  with  them.  All  who  accept  the  invitation 
are  requested  to  meet  at  the  City  Hall,  Albany,  on 
"Wednesday,  at  ten  A.  M.  Officers  to  appear  in  full 
dress  uniform,  and  side  arms. 


242  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

TUESDAY,  APRIL  25m,  1865. 

In  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  common 
council,  set  forth  in  their  proceedings  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  instant,  the  mayor  of  the  city  published  the 
following 

ANNOUNCEMENT. 

To  the  Citizens  of  Troy  : 

In  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  illustrious  dead, 
whose  obsequies  will  take  place  in  our  neighboring 
city  of  Albany,  on  Wednesday,  April  twenty-sixth, 
our  citizens  are  respectfully  requested  to  display  the 
usual  emblems  of  mourning,  and  to  close  their  places 
of  business  from  twelve  to  four  o'clock  on  that  day. 

URI  GILBERT,  Mayor. 

Troy,  April  25th,  1865. 

INVITATION. 

HEAD  QRS.,  24TH  REGT.,  N.  Y.  S.  N.  GL, ) 
Troy,  April  25,  1865.      J 

The  commissioned  officers  of  returned  regiments, 
together  with  all  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  in  this 
city  and  vicinity  are  cordially  invited  to  accompany 
this  regiment  to  Albany  to-morrow.  Those  so  desir 
ing  will  please  report  at  the  colonel's  quarters,  regi 
mental  armory,  at  nine  o'clock  A.  M. 

I.  McCoNiHE  JR.,  Colonel. 

G-.  G-.  MOORE,  Adjutant. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  243 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
TROY  YOUNG  MEN'S  ASSOCIATION. 

SPECIAL  MEETING. 

Troy,  April  25th,  1865. 

Present — Clarence  "Willard,  Esq.,  president,  in  the 
chair,  and  the  following  members :  Henry  Galitsha, 
Wm.  "W.  Rousseau,  J.  Spencer  Garnsey,  T.  Henry 
Bussey,  Josiah  L.  Young,  Martin  L.  Hollister,  Geo. 
C.  Baldwin  Jr.,  Jas.  S.  Thorn,  H.  C.  Folger,  J.  E. 
Schooumaker,  Wm.  E.  Gilbert,  Benj.  D.  Benson. 

The  President  stated  the  object  of  the  meeting  to 
be,  to  take  action  on  an  invitation  which  had  been 
received  from  the  Albany  Young  Men's  Association 
to  our  association,  to  take  part  in  the  obsequies  of  the 
late  President  Lincoln  at  Albany. 

Mr.  Galusha  moved  that  the  president  appoint  a 
committee  of  as  many  members  of  the  executive  com 
mittee  as  could  attend  the  obsequies,  to  represent  the 
association.  This  motion  was  adopted. 

The  president  appointed  "Wm.  E.  Gilbert  chairman 
of  said  committee,  with  authority  to  select  his  asso 
ciates  from  the  members  of  the  executive  committee. 

On  motion,  adjourned. 

T.  HENRY  BUSSEY,  Rec.  Sec'y. 


244  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

MEETING  OF  VETERAN  OFFICERS. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  veteran  officers  held  at  the 
Mansion  House,  on  Tuesday  evening,  the  meeting  was 
organized  by  calling  to  the  chair  Maj.  Joseph  Egolf 
and  the  appointment  of  Capt.  Thomas  B.  Eaton  as 
secretary.  Maj.  Egolf  stated  the  object  of  the  meeting. 

Capt.  Me  Conine  offered  the  following  resolution, 
which  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  old  officers  of  the  volunteer 
army  and  navy ,  fully  sympathize  with  the  public  in 
the  death  of  our  lamented  President,  and  that  we 
appear  in  a  body  at  the  obsequies  at  Albany  on  the 
twenty-sixth  instant. 

An  invitation  was  presented  from  the  adjutant  of 
the  twenty-fourth  regiment  to  the  veteran  officers  of 
Troy  and  vicinity,  to  accompany  said  regiment  to 
Albany  and  return  on  the  steamer  Yanderbilt.  On 
motion  their  invitation  was  accepted,  and  Capt.  Eaton 
was  instructed  to  inform  the  adjutant  of  the  fact.  On 
motion, 

Resolved,  That  the  veteran  officers  of  Troy  and 
vicinity  be  requested  to  wear  the  usual  badge  of 
mourning  for  thirty  days. 

'Resolved,  That  all  the  veteran  officers  of  the  army 
and  navy  in  Troy  and  vicinity,  not  present  at  this 
meeting,  be  requested  to  participate  in  the  obsequies 
of  the  late  President,  and  that  all  veteran  officers  who 
design  to  join  in  the  solemnities  of  the  day  be  requested 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  245 

to  meet  at  the  armory  of  the  twenty-fourth  regiment 
at  half  past  eight  o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  in  full 
uniform  so  far  as  possible. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  be 
published. 

Maj.  JOSEPH  EGOLF,  Chairman. 

Capt.  T.  B.  EATON,  Secretary. 

OFFICERS'  MEETING. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  discharged  and  present  officers 
in  the  city,  convened  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the 
last  tribute  of  respect  to  the  remains  of  the  late  Presi 
dent,  a  motion  was  made  and  unanimously  adopted, 
generally  inviting  the  officers  and  enlisted  men  of  the 
city  of  Troy  and  elsewhere  to  participate. 

WILLIAM  E.  WHITE,  late  Capt.  48d  K  Y, 

WEDNESDAY,  APRIL  26TH,  1865. 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  PARTICIPATION  OF  CITIZENS  OF 
TROY  IN  THE  OBSEQUIES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  AT 
ALBANY. 

The  funeral  train  conveying  the  remains  of  the 
lamented  President  reached  Albany  at  eleven  o'clock 
on  the  evening  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  April.  Es 
corted  by  an  immense  and  imposing  procession,  the 
coffin  was  borne  to  the  Capitol,  where,  at  half  past  one 


246  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

o'clock  on  the  morning  of  this  day,  it  was  opened,  and 
the  dead  features  of  Abraham  Lincoln  were  exposed  to 
the  reverent  gaze  of  thousands.  From  this  time 
until  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a  guard  of  honor 
surrounded  the  coffin  in  conjunction  with  the  military 
companies  detailed  for  special  service  on  this  occasion. 
The  body  lay  in  state  in  the  Assembly  Chamber, 
which  was  tastefully  draped,  and"  from  the  floor  of 
which  the  desks  and  chairs  had  been  removed.  In 
the  centre  of  the  space  thus  made,  was  a  dais  covered 
with  black  cloth  beautifully  festooned,  and  adorned 
with  heavy  silver  mountings.  Upon  this  dais  the  coffin 
was  placed.  The  military  companies,  three  in  number, 
were  on  guard  alternately,  for  two  hours  each.  The 
guard  of  honor  was  composed  of  the  officers  named  in 
the  following  order : 

GUARD  OF  HONOR. 

HEAD  QUARTERS  DISTRICTS  OF  NORTHERN  ~\ 
AND  WESTERN  NEW  YORK. 

Albany,  April  25,   1865.  ) 

The  following  officers  have  been  detailed  as  a  Guard 
of  Honor  to  the  remains  of  the  late  President  of  the 
United  States : — 

First  Watch  —  12  M.  till  3  A.  M.  Brigadier  General 
John  F.  Eathbone,  Colonel  B.  F.  Baker,  Colonel 
W.  H.  Young,  Colonel  J.  J.  De  Forrest,  Colonel  K. 
C.  Bentley,  Major  W.  C.  Beardsley. 

Second  Watch — 3  A.  M.  till  6  A.M.     Brigadier  Gen- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  247 

eral  Darius  Allen,  Colonel  Ira  Ainsworth,  Colonel 
A.  S.  Baker,  Colonel  C.  S.  Peak,  Colonel  John 
Hastings,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Chas.  H.  Thompson. 

Third  Watch— 6  A.  M.  till  9  A.  M.  Brevet  Colonel 
Frederick  Townsend,  Major  H.  C.  Pratt,  Major 
George  Pomeroy,  Brevet  Major  H.  A.  Swartwout, 
Captain  F.  P.  Muhlenberg,  Captain  George  H. 
"Weeks. 

Fourth  Watch  —  9  A.  M.  till  12  M.  Major  General 
John  T.  Cooper,  Colonel  James  Hendrick,  Colonel 
Charles  Strong,  Colonel  George  Beach,  Captain  M. 
L.  Norton,  Assistant  Surgeon  James  H.  Armsby. 

Fifth  Watch— 12  M.  till  2  p.  M.  Major  General  T. 
R.  Pratt,  Colonel  J.  B.  Stonehouse,  Colonel  B.  C. 
Gilbert,  Colonel  S.  E.  Marvin,  Colonel  M.  A.  Far- 
rell,  Major  John  Manly. 

JNO.  C.  ROBINSON,  Brev.  Major  General. 

The  preparations  in  Troy,  which  had  been  in  pro 
gress  several  days;  for  attending  the  obsequies  at 
Albany,  were  renewed  at  an  early  hour  this  morn 
ing.  Soon  after  nine  o'clock  the  Twenty-fourth  Regi 
ment,  ETew  York  State  National  Guard,  formed  on 
First  street,  its  right  resting  on*  Congress  street.  The 
field,  staff  and  line  officers  of  this  regiment  were  as 
follows : 

Colonel,  Isaac  McConihe  Jr. ;  Lieutenant  Colonel, 
John  I.  Le  Roy  ;  Major,  George  T.  Steenbergh  ;  Sur 
geon,  Le  Roy  McLean  ;  Chaplain,  Rev.  Henry  C.  Pot- 


248  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

ter;  Engineer,  Captain  Martin  Payne;  Adjutant,  Gur- 
don  G.  Moore ;  Quartermaster,  Henry  S.  Church ;  Assist 
ant  Surgeon,  Nathan  H.  Camp. 

Co.  A.  —  Captain,  John  M.  Landon  ;  Lieutenants, 
Henry  A.  Merritt,  "William  A.  Daniels ;  Junior 
Second  Lieutenant,  James  E.  Curran,  commanding 
battery. 

Co.H.  —  Captain,  "William  F.  Calder;  Lieutenants, 
Charles  E.  Hawley,  Gabriel  T.  Winne. 

Co.  G.  —  Captain,  James  W.  Cusack;  Lieutenants, 
Gurdon  G.  "Wolfe,  John  M.  Gary. 

Co.  F.  —  Captain,  John  H.  Quackenbush  ;  Lieu 
tenants,  Wallace  F.  Bullis,  Ezra  E.  Vail. 

Co.  E.  —  Captain,  Michael  Timpane ;  Lieutenants, 
"William  O'Brien,  Patrick. Conners. 

Co.  B.  —  Captain,  Timothy  McAuliffe ;  First  Lieu 
tenant,  John  Duke  ;  Second  Lieutenant,  vacant. 

Co.  I.  —  Captain,  Moses  A.  Upham  ;  Lieutenants, 
John  Myers,.  Michael  Riley. 

Co.  D.  —  Captain,  I.  Seymour  Scott;  Lieutenants, 
Sidney  T.  Gary,  Minott  A.  Thomas. 

Co.  C.  —  Captain,  Edward  A.  Ives  ;  Lieutenants, 
George  S.  Thompson,  Le  Grand  Cramer. 

Co.  K. — Captain,  Christian  W.  Rapp ;  Lieutenants, 
Albert  E.  Berger,  Philip  Dorr. 

The  regiment  numbered  seven  hundred  and  twelve 
men,  rank  and  file,  and  its  fine  appearance  elicited 
the  comment  and  admiration  of  all.  Preceded  by  the 
regimental  band,  under  the  the  direction  of  Charles 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  249 

Doring,  and  the  drum  corps  of  Henry  Perkins,  it 
marched  up  First  street  to  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of 
Broadway,  whence  at  ten  o'clock  it  embarked  for 
Albany  on  board  the  steamboat  Vanderbilt,  which  had 
been  chartered  by  the  city  for  the  occasion.  On  the 
same  boat,  as  the  guests  of  the  twenty-fourth  regi 
ment,  were  nearly  thirty  veteran  officers  who  had  seen 
service  in  the  field,  and  who  were  commanded  by  Lieu 
tenant  Colonel  Charles  E.  Brintnall ;  besides  officers 
of  other  regiments  that  had  served  or  were  now  serv 
ing  in  the  war,  together  with  representatives  of  the 
navy  service.  By  the  same  conveyance  a  number  of 
the  members  of  the  Troy  Young  Men's  Association 
proceeded  to  Albany  to  take  part  in  the  services  of  the 
day.  The  rest  of  the  company  on  board  consisted  of 
members  of  the  press  and  a  few  specially  invited 
guests,  the  whole  number  of  civilians  being  about  two 
hundred. 

The  battery  of  the  twenty-fourth  regiment,  consist 
ing  of  four  brass  howitzers  with  their  caissons  com 
plete,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  James  E. 
Curran,  of  the  artillery  company  A,  went  by  the 
road  to  Albany. 

The  mayor  and  common  council  and  the  board  of 
fire  commissioners  of  the  city,  together  with  the 
board  of  supervisors  of  Rensselaer  county  proceeded 
to  Albany  in  carriages.  The  members  of  the  Loyal 
League  and  the  fire  companies  and  other  civic  associa 
tions,  besides  hundreds  of  citizens  not  connected 
with  any  organization,  went  by  rail. 


250  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

On  reaching  Albany  the  twenty-fourth  regiment 
was  met  at  Columbia  street  wharf,  by  the  twenty-fifth 
regiment,  N".  Y.  S.  N".  G.,  commanded  by  Col.  Walter  S. 
Church,  and  having  formed  on  South  Broadway,  was 
escorted  to  its  position  on  Eagle  street  in  the  line  of 
the  forming  procession.  The  city  and  county  officials 
were  received  at  the  mayor's  office  in  the  City  Hall 
by  the  mayor  of  Albany  and  a  committee  of  the  Albany 
common  council.  To  other  organizations  appropriate 
places  were  assigned  in  the  funeral  cortege.  Most 
of  the  civilians  wore  badges  designating  them  as  the 
Rensselaer  county  delegation. 

At  two  o'clock  P.  M.  the  procession  began  to  move 
in  the  following  order : 

Advance  of    Police   Force. 

Gen.   Rathbone's  Brigade  of  the  New  York  State 
National  Guard,  composed  of  the  tenth, 

twenty-fourth  and  twenty -fifth 

regiments,  constituting  the  Local  Military  Guard. 

The  Washington  Military  Escort. 

Officers  accompanying  the  remains. 

Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United    States. 

Major  General  John  Tayler  Cooper  and  Staff,   and  other 

Officers  of  the  National   Guard. 

Ex-Officers  of  United  States  Volunteers. 

The  Congressional  and  other  delegates  accompanying  the 

remains. 

Pall  Bearers  —  tyzatGe  —  Pall  Bearers. 
The  Governor  and  Staff,  Lieutenant  Governor. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  251 

State  Officers  and  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals. 
Members  of  the  Senate  and  Assembly. 

The  Albany  Burgesses  Corps. 
The  Mayor  and  Common  Council  and  Officials  of  the  City 

and  County  of  Albany. 

The  Mayor  and  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Troy,  and 

Officials  and  Citizens  of  neighboring 

Cities  and  Counties. 

Citizens  of  Albany. 

Board  of  Trade. 
Young  Men's  Associations  of  Albany,  Troy  and  West  Troy. 

German  Literary  Society. 

Officers  and  members  of  the  Albany  Institute. 

St.  Andrew's  Society. 

St.  George's  Society. 

Fenian  Brotherhood. 

Hibernian  Provident  Society. 

Beaverwyck  Club. 
Typographical   Union. 

Union  League  of  Albany,  Troy  and  other  places. 

Iron   Moulders'  Union. 

St.  Peter's  Society. 

Brother  Band. 
St.  Joseph's  Society. 

City  Philanthropic  Grove,  No.   5,  Order  of  Druids. 
Schiller  Grove,  No.  4,  Order  of  Druids. 

William  Tell   Lodge. 

Harmony  Lodge,  No.  12,  Order  of  Harugarie. 
Free  Brother  Lodge,  No.  6,  Order  of  Harugarie. 

Bethust  Society. 
German   Brothers   Association. 


252  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL, 

Albany  Turner  Verein. 

Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

The  Fire  Department  of  the  City  of  Albany. 

Fire  companies  of  neighboring  Cities  and  Towns. 


The  military  moved  in  platoons,  with,  solemn  tread, 
their  arms  reversed,  and  formed  one  of  the  principal 
features  in  the  imposing  display. 

The  route  of  the  procession  was  as  follows :  From 
State  street,  on  which  the  main  line  was  formed,  up 
State  street  to  Dove  street,  through  Dove  street  to 
"Washington  avenue,  down  the  avenue  to  State  street, 
down  State  street  to  North  Broadway,  and  thence  to 
the  Central  rail  road  crossing. 

At  this  point  the  remains  of  the  late  President  were 
placed  in  the  hearse  car,  and  the  funeral  train  resumed 
its  westward  course.  The  civic  procession  returned 
to  State  street,  where  it  was  dismissed.  A  few  minutes 
later  the  twenty-fourth  regiment  was  returning  to 
Troy  on  the  Yanderbilt.  On  reaching  this  city  at  five 
o'clock,  the  regiment  proceeded  to  the  Court  House 
in  front  of  which  a  dress  parade  took  place,  in  the 
presence  of  the  mayor  and  common  council.  The  fol 
lowing  order  was  then  read  by  the  adjutant  and  soon 
after  the  regiment  was  dismissed. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  253 

ORDER  OF  THE  NATIONAL  GUARD. 

HEAD  QRS.  24TH  REGT.,  N.  Y.  S.  N.  £., ) 
Troy,  April  26fA,  1865.  j 

GENERAL  ORDER  No.  13. 

The  colonel  commanding,  on  behalf  of  this  com 
mand,  tenders  his  thanks  to  Col.  Walter  S.  Church 
and  his  fine  regiment,  the  Twenty-fifth  K  Y.  S.  N.  G., 
for  a  proper  escort  and  other  attentions  and  courte 
sies  while  this  regiment  was  in  Albany  to-day ;  also 
to  his  honor  the  mayor,  and  common  council  of 
Troy,  for  generous  cooperation ;  and  to  Chief  of 
Police  Barron,  for  efficient  service,  in  Albany  and 

Troy.     By  order, 

I.  McCoNiHE  JR., 

Colonel  Commanding. 
G.  G.  MOORE,  Adjutant. 

In  sympathy  with  the  solemn  and  imposing  cere 
monies  at  Albany,  the  day  was  observed  in  Troy  by 
an  almost  total  suspension  of  business.  ~N~o  church 
services  were  held,  but  with  this  exception  the  mani 
festations  of  sorrow  and  respect  were  similar  to  those 
apparent  on  the  day  of  the  funeral  at  Washington. 
It  was  estimated  that  not  less  than  five  thousand  of 
the  citizens  of  Troy  were  present  at  the  obsequies 
solemnized  at  the  capital  of  the  state  of  New  York. 
A  mourning  such  as  was  this,  was  never  before  wit 
nessed  on  this  continent,  and  the  days  which  intervened 
between  the  morning  of  that  fatal  Saturday  when  the 
announcement  was  made  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was 


254  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

dead  and  the  close  of  this  day,  will  be  remembered 
by  all,  as  the  most  notable,  in  many  respects,  of  the 
passing  century. 


THURSDAY,  APRIL,  27m,  1865. 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  TROY  YOUNG  MEN'S  ASSOCIATION. 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Troy  Young  Men's  Association,  held  at  their 
rooms,  on  the  evening  of  the  twenty-seventh  of  April, 
1865,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Benj.  D.  Benson,  it  was 

Resolved,  that  a  committee  be  appointed  with  Mr. 
James  S.  Thorn  as  chairman,  to  draft  resolutions  in 
regard  to  the  late  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  chair  appointed  Mr.  Benj.  D.  Benson  and  Mr. 
Win.  E.  Gilbert  on  such  committee.  Subsequently 
the  committee,  through  their  chairman,  reported  the 
following  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were  unan 
imously  adopted. 

In  joining  our  voice  of  lamentation  to  the  mourning 
wail  that  is  rising  from  a  continent,  we  only  wish  to 
swell  by  a  single  note  the  solemn  chorus  that  comes 
from  hearts  desolated  by  a  crushing  blow.  Yet  as 
young  men,  members  of  a  literary  association,  we  deem 
it  not  inappropriate  to  record  our  profound  participa 
tion  in  the  common  sorrow,  and  to  testify  that  the 
gloom  is  not  only  general,  but  universal.  Therefore 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  255 

Resolved,  That  in  the  assassination  of  our  beloved 
President,  the  late  Abraham  Lincoln,  we  see  the  last 
dying  relic  of  a  fell  spirit  which,  subdued  on  the  battle 
field,  seeks  to  gain  its  end  by  means  at  which  the 
spirit  of  the  age  must  shudder.  And  yet  in  the 
universal  execration  with  which  the  deed  has  been 
received,  we  recognize  the  impulse  of  a  virtuous  man 
hood  which  time  cannot  lessen,  nor  barbarism  destroy. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  spread  of  free  institutions,  and 
in  the  increase  of  societies  such  as  ours,  we  shall  find 
the  surest  guaranties  of  peace,  order  and  happiness, 
amid  which,  society,  created  anew,  shall  never  more 
know  a  parricidal  deed.  Then  shall  this  tragic  blot 
upon  America's  fair  fame  be  succeeded  by  unending 
years  of  tranquility,  till  the  present  generation  passes 
from  the  stage  of  action,  and  the  oblivion  of  the  future 
swallows  the  very  names  of  the  assassins  of  to-day. 

FRIDAY,  APRIL  28TH,  1865. 
DECLINE  OF  AMUSEMENTS. 

BY  F.   B.   HUBBELL. 

Since  the  death  of  the  President,  public  amusements 
have  been  at  a  discount.  In  New  York  the  theatres 
have  reopened,  but  the  audiences  have  been  very 
slim.  Traveling  bands  of  minstrels,  concert  people, 
etc.,  etc.,  say  they  never  experienced  such  a  lack  of 
patronage,  and  it  seems  impossible  for  them  to 
33 


256  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

reestablish  their  old-time  magnetism  with  the  great 
public.  In  this  city  —  not  by  any  means  backward, 
usually,  in  patronizing  amusements  —  the  halls  here 
tofore  nightly  filled  and  often  crowded,  are  well 
nigh  deserted,  no  matter  what  the  attraction. 

This  is  to  be  taken  as  an  evidence  of  the  real  sober 
ness  of  the  public  mind  at  the  present  juncture.  Men 
and  women  feel  the  country  is  under  a  deep  cloud. 
The  future  is  dark  and  uncertain.  In  place  of  craving 
diversion,  there  is  a  proneness  to  reflection,  quiet 
consultation  with  friends,  and  even  absolute  seclusion. 
"We  shall  doubtless  soon  recover  from  all  this.  Our 
people  are  so  volatile  and  recuperative,  it  would  be 
strange  if  we  did  not — unless  indeed  fresh  sources  of 
sorrow  are  opened.  These,  if  not  really  anticipated, 
are  more  or  less  apprehended. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  ostentation,  a* great 
deal  of  affected  grief,  over  the  national  calamity ;  but 
it  is  doubtless  true  that  the  event,  more  than  any  other 
known  to  our  national  history,  has  caused  deep,  heart 
felt  and  abiding  sorrow,  and  it  is  a  sorrow  which  as 
yet  refuses  to  be  comforted. —  Troy  Daily  Press. 

SATURDAY,  APKIL  29TH,  1865. 
PROCLAMATION  BY  THE  PRESIDENT. 

Whereas,  By  my  proclamation  of  the  twenty-fifth 
inst.,  Thursday,  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  next  month, 
was  recommended  as  a  day  for  special  humiliation  and 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  257 

prayer,  in  consequence  of  the  assassination  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  late  President  of  the  United  States ;  but 
Whereas,  My  attention  has  been  called  to  the  fact 
that  the  day  aforesaid  is  sacred  to  a  large  number  of 
Christians  as  one  of  rejoicing  ; 

Now,  therefore,  be  it  known  that  I,  Andrew  John 
son,  President  of  the  United  States,  do  hereby  suggest 
that  the  religious  services  recommended  as  aforesaid, 
should  be  postponed  until  Thursday,  the  first  day-  of 
June  next. 

In  testimony  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 

and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  twenty-ninth 

day  of  April,  A.  D.  1865,  and   of  the   Inde- 

[L.  s.]  pendence  of  the  United  States  of  America  the 

eighty-ninth. 

By  the  President,  ANDREW  JOHNSON. 

"W".  HUNTER,  Acting  Secretary  of  State. 

THE  MONTH  OF  MAY,  1865. 
"To  EVERYTHING  THERE  is  A  SEASON." 

BY  JAMES  S.  THORN. 

Correspondents  are  asking  us  how  soon  it  would  be 
proper  to  remove  the  mourning  emblems  from  the 
streets.  When  we  recollect  how  deep  and  heartfelt 
has  been  the  sorrow,  and  how  profuse  its  outward 
expression,  we  think  its  eifect  would  rather  be  les 
sened  by  continuing  these  manifestations  for  any 


258  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

longer  period.  Abraham  Lincoln  has  been  mourned 
as  few  men  were  ever  before  thus  honored  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  world.  Mammon  has  forgotten  the  pur 
suit  of  wealth,  and  pleasure  has  assumed  a  sober  mein. 
Men  who  opposed  him  while  living  have  become  the 
champions  of  his  memory  when  dead.  Not  only  have 
the  good  elements  of  society  done  him  honor,  but 
even  the  volatile  and  the  rougher  portions  have 
seemed  to  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  tragedy. 
But  one  of  the  chief  teachings  of  the  terrible  event  is 
the  lesson  that  the  life  of  the  American  republic  does 
not  depend  upon  the  existence  of  any  one  leader.  We 
lament  him,  but  the  next  in  order  takes  his  place,  and 
even  he  is  but  the  representative  man  temporarily 
placed  at  the  helm  of  state.  So  while  we  mourn 
Abraham  Lincoln,  dead,  we  must  recollect  that  the 
President  can  never  die.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  third  week  since  the  great  tragedy,  no  one  can 
accuse  any  community  of  a  lack  of  feeling,  if  the 
streets  resume  their  ordinary  appearance ;  and  it  has 
been  well  suggested  that  such  of  the  mourning  cloth 
as  can  be  made  available,  be  given  to  the  poor. —  Troy 
Daily  Times,  May  1st. 

A  DlKGE   ON   THE   DEATH   OF   ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

BY   JOSIAH   L.    YOUNG. 

Rest,  thy  noble  work  is  done : 
Sleep  among  the  hallowed  dead  : 
Golden  buds  encrown  thy  head, 
Evermore. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  259 

Distant  far  from  mortal  rage, 
From  the  envy  of  thy  power, 
Perfect  triumph  is  thy  dower, 
Evermore. 

No  more  sorrow,  no  more  pain, 
Sleepless  nights  nor  days  of  toil : 
Safe,  above  the  rude  turmoil, 
Evermore. 

Costly  tears  are  shed  for  thee, 
Envy  dareth  not  to  rave, 
Millions  bend  above  thy  grave, 
Evermore. 

Weep,  oh  sobbing  nation,  weep  ! 
Hallowed  sunshine  guards  his  rest, 
Cradled  in  the  golden  West, 
Evermore. 

He  is  thine,  thy  chosen  son, 
Naught  can  rob  thee  of  his  fame, 
Naught  can  dim  his  deathless  name, 
Evermore. 

Down  the  ages  it  will  glow 
Mid  the  shining  stars  of  time, 
Paling  those  of  every  clime, 
Evermore. 

None,  through  all  the  peopled  past, 
Has  been  loved  like  thee,  save  one, 
He,  the  blessed  Virgin's  son, 
Sacred  evermore. 

No  such  sepulchre  as  thine, 
Greener  for  a  Nation's  tears, 


260  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Green  throughout  a  thousand  years, 
To  the  outmost  flank  of  time. 
Sleep,  impassive  silence  reign  ! 
No  assassin  can  invade 
Where  thy  precious  dust  is  laid, 
Evermore. 

Bloom,  oh  prairie,  verdure  sweet ! 
All  your  rare  redundance  spread, 
Sprinkling  perfume  o'er  his  head, 
Evermore. 

Troy  Daily  Whig,  May  2d. 


LINCOLN  AND  CICERO. 

BY   B.    H.    HALL. 

The  juxtaposition  of  -these  two  names  may  excite  a 
smile  in  those  who  do  not  at  the  first  thought  perceive 
anything  in  common  in  the  life  or  character  of  the 
Roman  orator  and  the  American  ruler.  In  fact  one 
would  be  apt  to  think  that  their  names  could  only  be 
brought  together  save  for  the  sake  of  contrast.  It  is 
true,  doubtless,  that  the  differences  between  them  are 
more  marked  than  the  similarities,  still  there  are 
points  of  resemblance,  and  to  these  we  desire  to  call 
attention.  Cicero  died  by  violence,  so  did  Lincoln. 
Cicero  was  slain  by  the  hands  of  traitors.  Lincoln 
was  the  victim  of  treason.  The  manner  of  their  death 
was  different  but  equally  affecting.  On  hearing  that 
he  had  been  proscribed,  Cicero  sought  safety  in  flight. 
As  his  servants  were  carrying  him  in  his  litter  or  port- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  261 

able  chair,  the  soldiers  appeared.  His  servants  pre 
pared  to  fight,  but  Cicero  commanded  them  to  set 
him  down  and  to  make  no  resistance.  "  Then  looking 
upon  his  executioners,"  as  says  Middleton  in  his  Life  of 
Cicero,  "  with  a  presence  and  firmness,  which  almost 
daunted  them,  and  thrusting  his  neck,  as  forwardly  as 
he  could,  out  of  the  litter,  he  bade  them  do  their  work 
and  take  what  they  wantdd,  upon  which  they  presently 
cut  off  his  head  and  both  his  hands."  The  sad  story 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  assassination  is  too  fresh  in  our  minds 
to  require  a  repetition. 

The  world  has  been  moved  as  never  before,  where- 
ever  a  spark  of  civilization  glows,  with  sympathy  at 
the  loss  we  have  sustained.  Governments  of  all  kinds, 
whether  republican  or  monarchical,  limited  as  to  the 
power  of  the  ruler  or  autocratical,  Protestant  or  Ro 
man  Catholic,  obeying  the  laws  of  Mahomet  or  based 
on  Indian  superstitions  —  all  have  evinced  their  horror 
at  and  declared  their  detestation  of  the  fearful  crime. 
Time  will  not  weaken  the  impression.  As  the  full 
antecedent  history  of  the  foul  transaction  becomes 
known,  the  terrible  meaning  of  the  act  of  assassina 
tion  will  appear,  and  after  ages  will  recognize  the 
fact  as  proved  beyond  cavil,  that  the  blow  which 
struck  down  their  leader  was  intended  for  the  heart  of 
a  free  people.  Already  has  the  place  where  the  deed 
was  done  become  marked  with  an  interest  heretofore 
unimagined  of  any  locality  in  our  land.  Already 
has  the  city  named  from  the  Father  of  his  country 


262  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

become  sacred  as  the  place  where  fell  time's  noblest 
and  latest  martyr  for  Liberty  and  Truth.     And  so  was 
it  measurably  with  Cicero.     The  story  of  his  death 
continued  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  Romans  for  many 
ages  after  the  event  and  was  delivered  down  to  pos 
terity  with  all  its  circumstances,  as  one  of  the   most 
affecting  and  memorable  of  their  history.    The  spot  on 
which   he  was  slain  became  famous,  and  was  visited 
by  travelers  with  a  kind  of  religious  reverence  and  awe. 
But  it  is  to  the  similarity  between  these  two  illustri 
ous  men,  in  certain  traits  of  character,  we  desire  to  call 
particular  attention.     The  language  of  the  historian 
already  alluded  to,  concerning  Cicero's  ideas  of  friend- 
ship,applies  with  equal  force  to  Lincoln :  "  He  entertain 
ed  very  high  notions  of  friendship,  and  of  its  excellent 
use  and  benefit  to  human  life.     In  all  the  variety  of 
friendships  in  which  his  eminent  rank  engaged  him, 
he  wyas  never  charged  with  deceiving,  deserting,  or 
even  slighting  any  one,  whom  he  had  once  called  his 
friend,  or  esteemed  an  honest  man."     So  too" did  Lin 
coln  resemble  Cicero  in  his  kindness  to  his  enemies. 
The  record  which  is  left  of  the  latter,  on  this  point,  is 
equally  true  of  the  former  :  "  He  was  not  more  gener 
ous  to  his  friends,  than  placable  to  his  enemies,  readily 
pardoning  the    greatest  injuries,  upon   the   slightest 
submission ;  and  though  no   man   ever  had   greater 
abilities  or  opportunities  of  revenging   himself,  yet 
when  it  was  in   his   power   to   hurt,  he-  sought  out 
reasons  to  forgive,  and  whenever  he  was  invited  to  it, 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  263 

never  declined  a  reconciliation  with  his  most  inveter 
ate  enemies,  of  which  there  are  numerous  instances  in 
his  history.  He  declared  nothing  to  be  more  laudable 
and  worthy  of  a  great  man,  than  placability,  and  laid 
it  down  for  a  natural  duty,  to  moderate  our  revenge, 
and  observe  a  temper  in  punishing ;  and  held  repent 
ance  to  be  a  sufficient  ground  for  remitting  it."  As 
Cicero  once  said  of  himself  so  may  it  with  equal  truth 
be  said  of  Lincoln,  that  his  enmities  were  mortal,  his 
friendships  immortal. 

In  one  other  trait  of  character  —  a  trait  the  posses 
sion  and  manifestation  of  which  has  brought  upon 
Lincoln  the  slander  of  being  a  ribald  jester — namely, 
that  of  pleasantry  in  conversation  ;  in  this  characteris 
tic  did  Lincoln  especially  resemble  the  great  Roman. 
In  the  quaint  language  of  Middleton,  from  whom 
citations  have  already  been  made,  we  give  the  picture 
of  the  humorous  side  of  Cicero's  life,  and  find  in  it 
much  to  remind  us  of  him  whose  "  little  story  "  has 
grown  a  proverb.  He  was  "  of  a  nature  remarkably 
facetious,  and  singularly  turned  to  raillery,  a  talent, 
which  was  of  great  service  to  him  at  the  bar,  to  correct 
the  petulance  of  an  adversary,  relieve  the  satiety  of  a 
tedious  cause,  divert  the  minds  of  the  judges,  and 
mitigate  the  rigor  of  a  sentence,  by  making  both  the 
bench  and  audience  merry  at  the  expense  of  the 
accuser. 

"  This  use  of  it  was  always  thought  fair,  and  greatly 
applauded  in  public  trials,  but  in  private  conversa- 

34 


2(34  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

tions,  he  was  charged  sometimes  with  pushing  his 
raillery  too  far,  and,  through  a  consciousness  of  his 
superior  wit,  exerting  it  often  intemperately,  without 
reflecting  what  cruel  wounds  his  lashes  inflicted.  Yet 
of  all  his  sarcastical  jokes,  which  are  transmitted  to 
us  by  antiquity,  we  shall  not  observe  any,  but  what 
were  pointed  against  characters,  either  ridiculous  or 
profligate,  such  as  he  despised  for  their  follies,  or 
hated  for  their  vices ;  and  though  he  might  provoke 
the  spleen,  and  quicken  the  malice  of  enemies,  more 
than  was  consistent  with  a  regard  to  his  own  ease, 
yet  he  never  appears  to  have  hurt  or  lost  a' friend,  or 
any  one  whom  he  valued,  by  the  levity  of  jesting. 

"It  is  certain  that  the  fame  of  his  wit  was  as  cele 
brated  as  that  of  his  eloquence ;  and  that  several 
spurious  collections  of  his  sayings  were  handed  about 
in  Koine  in  his  life  time;  till  his  friend  Trebonius, 
after  he  had  been  consul,  thought  it  worth  while  to 
publish  an  authentic  edition  of  them,  in  a  volume 
which  he  addressed  to  Cicero  himself.  Csesar  like 
wise,  in  the  height  of  his  power,  having  taken  a  fancy 
to  collect  the  apophthegms  or  memorable  sayings  of 
eminent  men,  gave  strict  orders  to  all  his  friends  who 
used  to  frequent  Cicero,  to  bring  him  everything  of 
that  sort,  which  happened  to  drop  from  him  in  their 
company.  But  Tiro,  Cicero's  freedman,  who  served 
him  chiefly  in  his  studies  and  literary  affairs,  pub 
lished  after  his  death,  the  most  perfect  collections  of 
his  sayings  in  three  books." 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  265 

Such  is  the  account  of  some  of  the  traits  of  Cicero's 
character  in  which  Lincoln  resembled  him.  The 
parallelism  might  he  further  continued,  and  other 
particulars  adduced  which  were  common  to  the  two 
men.  As  Tiro  preserved  the  sayings  of  Cicero,  and 
as  Boswell  never  failed  to  secure  every  chance 
thougKt  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  Johnson,  so  too, 
there  will  be  men  who  will  collect  the  stories  that 
have  been  accredited  to  Lincoln ;  and  the  pleasantry 
which  was  employed  by  him  to  relieve  the  tedium  of 
the  hour  and  to  serve  as  an  escape  valve  to  his  feel 
ings,  may  hereafter  be  preserved  in  volumes  as  elabo 
rate  as  those  perfected  by  the  freedman  of  the  orator, 
and  the  follower  of  the  lexicographer. 

Troy  Daily  Whig,  May 


Agreeably  to  the  spirit  of  the  proclamation  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  appointing  the  first 
day  of  June,  as  a  day  of  mourning  in  view  of  the 
bereavement  sustained  by  the  nation,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Horatio  Potter,  the  bishop  of  New  York,  issued  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  May,  a  letter  and  an  order  of  services 
for  that  occasion.  They  are  here  inserted,  as  they 
served  to  give  direction  to  the  religious  worship  of  a 
portion  of  the  people. 

LETTER,  AND  ORDER  OF  SERVICES. 
To  the  Clergy  and  Laity  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  : 
DEAR  BRETHREN  :  Thursday,  the  first  day  of  June, 


266  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

having  been  designated  and  set  apart  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  as  a  day  of  National  Humiliation, 
Fasting  and  Prayer,  the  following  order  of  services  is 
set  forth  to  be  used  in  this  Diocese  on  that  day. 

Commending  you,  dear  Brethren  to  the  blessing  of 
God,  I  remain  your  faithful  friend  and 
Brother  in  Christ, 

HORATIO  POTTER, 

Bishop  of  ISTew  York. 
New  York,  May  24,  1865. 

ORDER  or  SERVICES  SET  FORTH  BY  THE  BISHOP,  TO  BE 

USED  IN  THE  DlOCESE  OF  E~EW  YORK  ON  THURSDAY, 

JUNE  IST,  1865 : 

T  The  Morning  Service  shall  be  the  same  with  the 
usual  Office,  except  where  it  is  hereby  otherwise 
appointed. 

\  Instead  of  the  Anthem,  Venite,  Exultemus  Domino : 
Psalm  cxxx,  De  profundis  clamavi,  shall  be  said  or  sung. 

Proper  Psalms. —  Psalm  xc,  and  Psalrn  xci. 

Proper  Lessons. —  The  first  Lesson,  Isaiah,  i. ;  The 
second  Lesson,  Hebrews,  xii  to  v.  15. 

If  After  the  second  Lesson  the  Hymn,  Benedietus. 

If  The  Litany  shall  be  said  entire. 

T  In  the  end  of  the  Litany,  immediately  before  the 
General  Thanksgiving,  shall  be  said  the  Prayer  For  a 
Per  son  under  Affliction,  the  phrase  "sorrows  of  thy 
servants,"  being  altered  so  as  to  read  "sorrows  of  the 
people  of  this  land." 

*|f  The  Litany  being  ended,  there  shall  be  sung  from 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  267 

the  Selection  of  Psalms  in  metre,  Selection  30,  verses  1, 
2,  and  3 ;  or  Selection  40  ;  or  some  other  Selection,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  Minister. 

If  In  the  Communion  Service,  the  Collect,  the 
Epistle,  and  the  Gospel,  shall  be  those  for  the  Week 
(The  Sunday  after  Ascension  Day),  with  the  addition 
of  the  Collect  for  the  Fifth  Sunday  in  Lent,  after  the 
Collect  for  the  day. 

If  After  the  Gospel,  shall  be  sung  the  12th,  or  202d 
Hymn  ;  or  some  other  Hymn  at  the  discretion  of  the 
Minister. 

If  Immediately  before  the  Blessing,  the  two  final 
prayers  In  the  Order  for  the  Burial  of  the  Dead,  one  or 
both,  may  be  said. 

PKOCLAMATION  BY  THE  MAYOR. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  having,  by  Pro 
clamation,  set  apart  Thursday,  the  first  day  of  June,  to 
be  observed  as  a  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer,  in 
view  of  the  great  national  calamity  suffered  by  reason 
of  the  assassination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  President 
of  the  United  States,  I  do  hereby  respectfully  recom 
mend  to  the  citizens  of  Troy  that  they  pay  due  re 
spect  and  make  proper  observance  of  the  day,  by 
suspending  labor,  closing  their  places  of  business,  and 
by  assembling  at  the  stated  places  of  worship. 

Done  in  the  city  of  Troy,  this  thirty-first  day  of 

May,  1865. 

URI  GILBERT,  Mayor. 


268  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

JUNE  IST,  1865. 

"  THE  SWORD  OF  THE  LOUD,"  A  DISCOURSE  DELIVERED 
IN  ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH. 

BY   REV.    THOMAS    W.    COIT,    D.D. 

0,  thou  sword  of  the  Lord,  How  long  will  it  be  ere  thou  be  quiet?  Put 
up  thyself  into  thy  scabbard,  rest,  and  be  still. —  JEREMIAH,  xlvii,  6. 

This  is  not  the  first  time,  my  brethren,  that  I  have 
selected  this  text  for  a  National  Fast-Day.  The  very 
same  text  was  long  since  chosen  for  a  sermon  to  be 
addressed  to  you  on  a  national  occasion  ;  but  circum 
stances,  not  necessary  to  mention,  prevented  its  com 
pletion.  In  making  it  a  theme  for  the  present 
occasion,  I  resume  some  thoughts  which  have  long 
been  suspended. 

The  imagery  of  the  Hebrews  is,  you  know,  very 
strong;  is,  to  us,  seemingly  excessive  and  extrava 
gant.  But  we  must  take  it  as  we  find  it ;  it  would 
not  be  oriental,  if  it  were  not  apparently  romantic. 
The  text  depicts  God  as  a  warrior,  with  a  sword  in 
his  hand,  equipped  for  bloodshed  and  extermination. 
But  to  a  Hebrew,  this  would  be  no  more  than  our 
saying,  that  war  as  well  as  peace  was  under  the  con 
trol  of  the  Almighty ;  and  that  he  could  govern  the 
destinies  of  both,  with  a  sovereignty  none  can  dis 
pute.  As  controlling  the  destinies  of  the  former, 
God  is  pronounced  by  Moses,  in  just  so  many  words, 
"a  man  of  war;"*  while,  in  the  visions  of  St.  John, 

*  Exodus,  xv,  3. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  269 

even  the  Prince  of  Peace  is  represented  with  a  sharp 
two-edged  sword  proceeding  out  of  a  mouth,  which 
would  fain  utter  nothing  but  benedictions.* 

But  if  God  is  thus  an  arbiter,  and  a  supreme  arbi 
ter,  for  that  which  more  than  any  thing  else  puts  the 
destinies  of  a  nation  in  peril  —  war,  and  of  all  wars  a 
civil  war — then  in  relation  to  war.  one  of  the  best 
things  we  can  do  is  to  appeal  to  Him,  in  that  character, 
and  pour  our  supplications  at  his  feet,  for  forbearance 
and  compassion,  for  mercy,  sustenance  and  direction. 
It  is  such  a  supplication  as  this,  which  the  Prophet 
Jeremiah  gives  us  an  instance  of,  when  —  as  I  doubt 
not  —  he  raised  a  tearful  eye  to  Heaven,  and  ex 
claimed  : 

0,  thou  sword  of  the  Lord, 
How  long  will  it  be,  ere  thou  be  quiet  ? 
Put  up  thyself  into  thy  scabbar.d, 
Rest,  and  be  still. 

Such  a  resource,  however,  as  that,  is  not  one  which 
our  human  preferences  would  put  forth,  as  a  com 
manding,  as  a  transcending  one,  when  war  smokes 
and  thunders  around  us,  and  threatens  to  overwhelm 
us  with  its  fires  and  earthquakes.  No ;  the  mind  of 
man  would  look  rather  to  the  hand  of  man  for  extri 
cation  in  such  formidable  exigencies — to  the  sagacity 
of  statesmen,  to  the  bravery  of  soldiers,  to  thronging 
armies  and  encircling  fleets,  and  all  war's  enginery  of 

*  Revelations,  i,16. 


270  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

mischief.  The  greatest,  grandest  warrior  of  all  is  apt 
to  be  forgotten,  amid  such  circumstances  —  the  sword 
which  He  wields  is  all  unthought  of —  and  though 
the  actual  arbiter  of  every  destiny,  the  resistless 
decider  of  every  battle,  He  is  treated  as  if  a  fiction  of 
the  fancy,  the  creation  of  cloud-painting  hopes. 

Our  Prophet,  you  perceive,  did  not  forget  such  a 
dread  and  resistless  personage — the  only  genuine 
Lord  paramount  of  human  fates.  And  I  do  believe, 
I  cannot  help  believing,  when  I  look  at  the  issue  of 
our  late  tremendous  conflict,  that  such  an  example 
was  not  forgotten  by  our  countrymen,  as  it  has  been 
by  those  who  laugh  to  scorn  the  idea,  that  the  bend 
ing  of  human  knees  can  influence  a  will  that  sways 
the  universe — that  a  whisper  from  this  earth's  dust 
can  be  heard  in  the  courts  of  the  Eternal,  the  Im 
mortal,  the  Invisible.  -But  when  the  struggle  deep 
ened —  when  our  country's  fortunes  trembled  in  the 
balance  —  then,  I  am  persuaded,  multitudes  began  to 
pray,  as  they  had  never  done,  to  that  "  High  and 
Mighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe,"  to  whom  the  prayer 
book  teaches  us  constantly  to  appeal  for  public  men. 
And  then  too,  as  I  am  recently  informed,  and  am 
most  glad  to  be  informed,  the  late  Head  of  the  nation 
began  to  imitate  his  countrymen,  and  to  plead  daily 
at  God's  footstool,  for  the  pressing  necessities  and 
calamities  of  the  land  entrusted  to  his  guardianship. 
There  is  to  me,  no  brighter  spot  in  all  his  history — a 
history  which  the  future  will  glorify  more  perhaps  than 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  271 

we  do,  sineS  it  will  judge  him  by  results  perfectly 
incredible  to  ordinary  calculation  —  no  brighter  spot, 
I  say,  in  all  his  history ;  and  one  can  follow  him,  in 
view  of  it  into  the  world  whither  he  was  hurried  with 
such  appalling  haste,  with  hopes  outweighing  im 
mensely  all  his  human  honors. 

But  if  things  are  so,  then  why  are  we  this  day  called 
to  mourn  the  utterly  unlocked  for,  the  paralyzing 
catastrophe,  which  removed  him  from  the  midst  of  us  ? 

Perhaps,  my  brethren,  our  rapid  success  was  too 
exhilirating,  too  flattering,  too  intoxicating.  Like 
Israel,  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  we  had  vanquished 
all  essential  opposition.  We  stood,  as  they  did,  upon 
the  borders  of  a  promised  land,  and  were  bewildered, 
as  they  were,  with  prospective  triumphs  which  opened 
around  on  all  sides,  and  with  radiant  brilliancy.  Our 
hearts  were  lifted  up,  and  we  were  beginning  to  for 
get  Him,  who,  and  who  alone,  had  wrought  such  a 
series  of  wonders,  that  as  one  looks  back,  he  feels 
tempted  to  call  them  not  phenomena  but  miracles  ; 
we  were  forgetting  that  it  was  virtually  the  sheathing  * 
of  His  sword,  and  not  the  taking  as  spoil  the  swords 
of  our  opponents — that  this  was  the  true  cause,  which 
had  obtained  our  exemption  from  war's  blighting 
horrors,  and  brought  back  omens  of  peace  and  plenty 
—  and  were  inclining  to  say,  with  self-satisfied  Israel, 
"My  power,  and  the  might  of  mine  hand,  hath  gotten 
me  this  wealth."* 

*  Deuteronomy,  viii,  17. 

35 


272  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

So  the  sword  of  the  Almighty  was  again  drawn 
forth,  so  far  as  to  make  us  feel,  most  smartingly,  that 
our  destinies  were  no  more  in  our  own  keeping  than 
before.  The  nation  was  touched,  where  it  could 
most  ill  afford  to  bear  it,  in  a  Head  upon  whom  such 
expectations  rested,  as  have  not  rested  upon  any  one, 
save  the  Father  of  his  country,  the  immortal  Wash 
ington.  I  say  such  expectations,  including  not  our 
portion  of  the  land  alone,  but  that  which  has  arrayed 
itself  against  the  laws  and  constitution  of  their  fathers 
as  well  as  ours.  Well  did  one  of  the  chiefs  in  that 
land  say,  in  terms  of  bitter  lamentation,  "The  south 
has  lost  its  best  friend."  And  well  may  the  south 
keep  this  day,  with  a  depth  of  earnestness  exceeding 
our  own ;  for  a  madder  act  was  never  perpetrated, 
since  the  days  of  Cain,  than  by  him  who  slew  for  the 
south,  as  he  thought,  a  tyrant,  when  he  slew  one,  who, 
sooner  than  have  been  a  tyrant,  would  have  died  as 
he  did  a  martyr.  If  I  could  believe  the  south  might 
supply  many  such  utter  madmen,  I  could  believe  that 
the  age  of  demoniacal  possessions  had  returned,  and 
that  we  needed  exorcisms  which  would  cast  out  seven 
devils  from  a  single  human  breast ! 

But  I  must  make  this  address  a  short  one,  brethren, 
and  therefore  turn  to  a  question,  which  naturally  sug 
gests  itself,  when  we  are  in  the  midst  of  mourning  and 
fasting,  namely  :  How  shall  we  conduct  ourselves,  so 
that  we  may  not  be  called  to  mourn  and  fast  again  ? 

We  might  easily  have  had  much  more  to  mourn 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  273 

and  fast  for,  than  we  have  now.  Had  the  sword  of 
the  Lord  been  drawn  but  a  little  further  from  its 
scabbard  —  in  other  words,  had  not  God  restrained 
the  wrath  of  man  in  its  devouring  malignity  —  the 
very  wheels  of  government  might  have  been  arrested, 
and  the  nation  resembled  a  vessel  in  the  trough  of  the 
sea,  amid  the  billows  of  a  storm.  God  only  knows, 
how  little  of  non-interference  on  his  part  might  have 
brought  us  to  the  verge  of  anarchy,  or  dashed  us  upon 
its  breakers. 

So  to  God  then  let  us  go  for  the  future,  as  we  have 
done  for  the  past :  to  God  let  us  still  lift  the  plaintive 
cry  of  the  prophet, 

O,  thou  sword  of  the  Lord, 
How  long  will  it  be,  ere  tliou  be  quiet? 
Put  up  thyself  into  thy  scabbard, 
Rest,  and  be  still. 

This  is  our  best  security  against  future  evils,  as  it 
has  been  against  the  evils  from  which  we  have  been 
so  singularly  redeemed.  Problems  of  the  deepest 
and  most  anxious  concernment  are  before  the  nation, 
which  should  be  decided  by  that  union  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  serpent  with  the  gentleness  of  the  dove,  which 
God  only  can  impart  and  regulate.  Widespread 
destruction  is  an  easy  work  —  as  easy,  sometimes,  as 
individual  self-ruin.  We  have  virtually  destroyed 
what  attempted  to  be  a  nation,  and  which  now  lies 
before  us  as  Lisbon  lay  before  the  King  of  Portugal, 
after  the  earthquake  of  1755.  Such  almost  immeasu- 


274  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

rable  ruin  accompanied  that  enormous  convulsion  of 
the  ground,  whose  undulations  spread  over  four 
millions  of  square  miles,  that  the  monarch  cried  to  his 
prime  minister  in  an  agony  of  consternation,  "  What, 
oh  what,  is  to  he  done?"  "Bury  the  dead,  and  feed 
the  living,"  was  the  calm,  ever  memorable  reply. 
And  beyond  all  question,  our  great  crowning  work  is 
to  be  much  the  same.  We  must  bury  the  past,  as 
well  as  justice,  attempered  and  softened  by  charity, 
will  permit.  We  must  consider  this, 

"  That,  in  the  course  of  justice,  none  of  us 
Should  see  salvation.     We  do  pray  for  mercy ; 
And  that  same  prayer  doth  teach  us  all  to  render 
The  deeds  of  mercy. "* 

And  in  providing  for  the  future,  we  must  act  under 
such  sacred  cautions,  as  our  church  addresses  to  her 
bishops,  at  the  moment  of  their  consecration  :  "Be 
so  merciful,  that  you  be  not  too  remiss ;  so  minister 
discipline,  that  you  forget  not  mercy."  May  such 
cautions  ever  guide  our  rulers  in  the  state,  as  well  as 
in  the  church ;  and  that  they  may,  and  may  continu 
ally,  let  us  pray  for  them,  as  we  do  for  those  about  to 
be  confirmed,  that  God  would  daily  increase  in  them 
His  manifold  gifts  of  grace,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and 
understanding,  the  spirit  of  counsel  and  ghostly 
strength,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  true  godliness, 
and  fill  them  with  the  spirit  of  His  holy  fear. 

*  Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  iv,  scene  1. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  275 

Happily,  by  universal  consent,  one  hitherto  im 
practicable  difficulty  in  the  reconstruction  of  the 
southern  social  state  has  been  obliterated ;  and 
Christanity  has  now  the  fairest  of  opportunities  to  ac 
complish  for  the  colored  race,  all  which  it  could  ever 
accomplish  for  the  freest  of  human  beings.  I  say 
Christianity ;  since  it  is  a  grievous  mistake  to  suppose 
that  Christianity  has  ever  sanctioned  slavery,  though 
it  has  endured  it,  and  not  interfered  with  it,  as  a  civil 
institution.  So  our  Saviour  endured  the  system  of 
Roman  taxation,  and  paid  his  tribute  punctually  to  a 
Roman  emperor;  while  in  direct  reference  to  another 
Roman  emperor,  one  of  his  apostles — the  very  chief- 
est  of  them,  as  some  will  have  it — said  most  explicitly, 
"Honor  the  King."*  Did  our  Saviour  approve  the 
laws,  which  governed  the  collection  of  internal  reve 
nue  in  the  Roman  Empire  ?  Did  St.  Peter  approve 
the  tyranny  and  bloodthirstiness  of  Nero  ?  No  more 
did  Christianity  approve  of  slavery,  when  it  bade  those 
in  bondage  obey  their  masters.  The  real  sentiments 
of  Christianity  respecting  slavery  can  be  seen  in  the 
antidote,  which  it  offered  a  baptized  slave  for  his  sad 
subjection — an  antidote  such  as  no  system  of  philo 
sophy,  or  ethics,  or  political  economy,  ever  gave  him, 
or  ever  could  give  him.  It  pronounced  him  the  free 
man  of  his  God  !  f  This  was  a  comfort,  which  no 

*  1  Peter,  ii,  17. 

f  See  1  Corinthians,  vii,  22.  St.  Paul  could  scarcely  pronounce,  to 
my  mind,  a  higher  condemnation  of  slavery,  per  se,  than  by  maintaining 


276  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

earthly  affluence  could  buy  for  him ;  nay,  a  privilege 
which  no  earthly  potentate  could  confer  upon  him. 
Wherefore,  Christianity,  and  the  church  after  her,  in 
culcated  the  doctrine  that  no  one — no  one — within 
their  pale,  could  be  degraded  or  impoverished  in  the 
eye  of  all  eyes,  the  eye  of  God,  by  any  involuntary 
predicament  or  condition. 

The  church,  I  mean  the  church  catholic,  primitive, 
and  apostolic — the  church  which  we  believe  has  been 
transmitted  to  us  from  earliest  times,  and  which  we 
profess  our  faith  in,  in  the  Creeds  —  this  church  began 
at  once  to  modify  and  to  repress  slavery,  to  the  best 
of  her  ability.  Doubtless,  it  was  a  conflict  of  ages 
with  human  governments,  and  above  all  with  human 
purses.  It  was  the  purses  of  London  merchants, 
which  forbade  the  British  Ministry  to  listen  to  the 
importunities  of  South  Carolina,  when,  before  the 
American  Revolution,  it  prayed  that  no  more  slaves 
might  be  imported  into  Charleston.  It  is  a  battle  with 
filthy  lucre,  which  the  church  catholic  has  had  to  fight, 

that  the  man,  whom  it  would  fain  hold  in  life-long  bondage,  might 
be,  all  the  while,  God's  freeman.  And  yet  it  has  been  argued,  a 
thousand  times,  that,  in  his  Epistle  to  Philemon,  he  encouraged  a  fu 
gitive  slave-law.  He  did  no  such  thing.  He  fully  sustained  the  doc 
trine,  that  no  baptized  person  should  be  held  in  bondage.  He  enjoined 
upon  Philemon  (as  he  had  a  right  to  do,  Philemon  being  a  professed 
Christian),  to  receive  Onesimus  as  "  not  now  a  servant,  but  above  a 
servant,  a  brother  beloved"  (see  verse  16),  or,  as  the  Greek  fully  au 
thorizes  me  to  render  the  passage,  "  as  no  longer  a  slave,  but  above  a 
slave,  a  brother  beloved."  That  is,  receive  him  as  your  equal  and 
your  brother ;  for,  inasmuch  as  he  is  a  freeman  (or  made  free,  as  the 
margin  has  it)  of  the  Lord,  his  servitude  with  you,  as  a  Christian,  has 
forever  ended ! 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  277 

in  establishing  as  one  of  her  axioms  of  Christian  law, 
that  the  freeman  of  God  should  be  the  freeman  of  man 
likewise.  But,  happily,  the  axiom  has  been  estab 
lished  ;  and  I  may  now  announce  to  you  as  a  self-evi 
dent  Christian  principle,  that  no  one,  be  his  nation, 
his  rank,  or  his  color  what  they  may,  should  ever  be 
held  in  bondage,  who  has  had  the  name  of  the  Trinity 
invoked  upon  him,  and  the  sign  of  the  cross  impressed 
upon  his  brow.  That  blessed  name,  that  blessed  sign, 
ought  to  be  a  complete  protection  to  any  one,  be  his 
color  or  his  quality  what  they  may,  from  the  degrada 
tion  of  servitude.  That  protection  was  accorded 
peacefully  in  Mexico  and  Russia :  England,  I  am  sorry 
to  say  it,  left  out  the  Christian  reason  for  manumitting 
her  bond-servants.  In  our  own  dear  land  (how  much 
sorrier  am  I  to  say  so),  liberation  for  the  slave  has 
been  extorted,  by  the  red  right  hand  of  war.  But, 
come  by  what  instrumentality  soever,  it  has  come  at 
last,  with  apparent  security.  And  may  God  Almighty 
grant,  that  it  never  be  abused  by  friend,  or  wronged 
by  foe ! 

I  cannot  stop  here,  my  brethren,  to  indulge  in  com 
ments  upon  the  offices  and  influence  of  government, 
upon  the  condition  of  those  who  have  been  emanci 
pated  from  thraldom.  Time  will  not  permit  me  ;  and, 
moreover,  I  cannot  but  think  such  a  topic  belongs 
rather  to  others.  But  this  I  may  say,  and  this  I  ought 
to  say,  as  Christ's  minister,  there  is  now  a  future  of 
hope  for  a  down-trodden  race,  if  Christianity  may 


278  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

bring  to  bear  upon  them,  a^her  beneficent  and  elevat 
ing  influences  and  inspirations.  I  will  never  despair 
of  the  civil,  as  well  as  the  moral  regeneration  of  any 
beings,  for  whom  Christ  died,  so  long  as  Christ's 
religion  may  be  theirs,  in  its  whole  fullness  and. 
freedom.  Let  Christianity  then  baptize  the  African 
as  the  freeman  of  man.  Let  her  educate  him  as  such. 
Let  her  instruct  him  as  such,  how  to  lead  "  a  godly, 
righteous  and  sober  life."  Let  her  marry  him  as 
such,  and  give  him  a  home  as  inviolable  as  the  white 
man's.  Let  her  offer  him  a  welcome  at  her  goodliest 
altars.  Let  her  follow  him  to  the  grave,  with  the 
same  commitment  which  is  bestowed  upon  the  highest 
of  human  society.  And  if  they  who  have  been 
esteemed  fit  to  be  goods  and  chattels  only,  do  not 
reward  such  treatment,  then  we  may  reverse  the 
prophet's  petition,  and  pray  for  the  coming  of  a  day, 
when  the  sharp  edge  of  chastisement  shall  awaken 
them  to  sensibility. 

But  that  day,  my  Christian  hopes  prompt  me  to 
believe,  will  never  come  to  haunt  us  with  the  spectres 
of  ingratitude.  Christianity  has  never  failed  with 
the  most  refractory  of  human  races.  It  has  now  but 
to  have  its  legitimate  influence,  and  we  may  apply  to 
our  united  country,  the  promise  of  days  long  gone. 

"  Fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee ; 
I  will  bring  thy  seed  from  the  East, 
And  gather  them  from  the  West. 
I  will  say  to  the  North,  '  Give  up ;' 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  279 

And  to  the  South,  c  Keep  not  back ; ' 

Bring  my  sons  from  far, 

And  niy  daughters  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  : 

Even  every  one  THAT  is  CALLED  BY  MY  NAME."* 

~Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abund 
antly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  according  to  the 
power  that  worketh  in  us,  unto  Him  be  glory  in  the 
Church  by  Christ  Jesus,  throughout  all  ages,  world 
without  end.  Ameii.f 


AN    ADDRESS    DELIVERED     IN     THE    STATE    STREET 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

BY  CIIARLTON  T.   LEWIS,    ESQ. 

At  the  close  of  winter,  it  is  the  custom  of  the 
Christian  part  of  the  nation  to  observe  a  day  of 
fasting  and  humiliation.  Many  had  looked  forward, 
some  months  ago,  with  heaviness  and  anxiety  to  that 
day,  as  it  approached.  But  the  nearer  it  came,  the 
greater  was  our  success  in  our  national  struggles; 
and  the  whole  sky  was  brightening  writh  triumph  and 
hope,  so  that  the  fast  lost  all  its  sorrow  and  became  a 
jubilee.  Soon  after,  the  hope  was  more  than  realized  ; 
the  land  was  filled  with  joy  and  exultation;  and  our 
late  good  President,  referring  all  blessings  to  their 
source,  appointed  the  twentieth  day  of  April  as  a  day 
of  thanksgiving  to  God,  for  his  goodness  to  the  na- 

*  Isaiah,  xliii,  5,  etc. 
fEphesians,  iii,  20,  21. 

36 


280  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

tion.  But  just  before  the  appointed  day,  a  sudden  and 
terrible  calamity  fell  upon  the  world,  and  most  sadly 
upon  our  country;  and  that  day  became  a  day  of 
terror,  apprehension  and  unbounded  sorrow.  Now 
again,  and  in  memory  of  that  event,  we  meet  for 
a  day  of  fasting  and  humiliation.  And  we  find  its 
terror  gone  ;  its  sorrows  lost  in  a  larger  joy.  Our  war, 
our  struggle  for  national  existence,  is  really  ended  ; 
the  chief  plague  spot  of  the  civilized  world  has  disap 
peared  ;  health  and  peace  are  brought  back  to  our 
life  as  a  people.  Who  can  make  to-day  other  than  a 
thanksgiving  ?  "Who  can  suppress  the  voice  of 
exulting  praise  to  our  Father's  God  ? 

We  are  not  prophets.  We  cannot  ordain  our  own 
emotions  for  a  day.  We  name  hours  to  come  for 
times  of  joy  or  of  sorrow;  and  the  great  forces  of 
history,  which  own  not  us  but  another  as  master, 
reverse  our  appointments.  Our  wisest  plans  are 
changed  to  folly ;  while  "  our  indiscretion  ofttimes 
serves  us  well,  when  our  deep  plots  do  pall."  Shall 
we  not  learn  from  this  to  look  above  ourselves  to  one 
in  whose  hand  are  our  ways  ? 

These  sudden  shocks  of  feeling  are  not  fortuitous 
nor  worthless.  N"ot  in  the  vast  of  creation,  nor  in  the 
elemental  forces,  shall  we  look  for  the  scene  in  which 
God's  plan  for  history  is  accomplished  ;  but  in  hu 
manity.  That  era  of  mighty  movements  which  has 
passed  over  us,  the  overwhelming  march  of  events, 
the  tremendous  passions  waked  and  lulled  in  mil- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  281 

lions,  the  sublime  wrath  of  the  nation  followed  by  a 
calm,  these  are  forces  to  develop  manhood  and  build 
its  future.  The  great  value  of  our  records  of  the  past 
is  in  their  revelation  of  what  is  in  man.  And  events 
should  be  measured  chiefly  by  their  power  over  the 
human  heart.  It  is  this  which  makes  these  last 
weeks  great  in  world-story.  Never  before  did  so 
short  a  time  reveal  on  such  an  imposing  scale,  the 
tremendous  contrasts  of  our  nature ;  the  infinite 
possibilities  of  good  and  evil  which  lie  in  man ;  the 
heights  and  the  depths  he  is  capable  of. 

It  is  fitting,  then,  that  this  call  to  humiliation  comes 
in  the  hour  of  triumph.  To-day  is  a  jubilee ;  aye, 
this  year  is  one  long  day  of  jubilee,  wherever  man 
has  hopes  for  freedom.  It  is  the  birth-year  of  a  race  ; 
half  a  continent  of  emancipated  manhood  dates  forever 
from  this  time  its  power  to  work  out  a  destiny.  We 
have  a  peace  which  is  peace;  a  peace  fairly  won  by 
fighting  down  the  evil.  Every  household  that  has 
lost  a  hero  is  lit  with  joy  at  the  triumph  of  the  cause 
he  died  for.  Every  martyr  to  liberty  in  history  sees  a 
new  garland  on  his  grave,  in  her  future  secured. 
Another  of  those  great  struggles  of  civilization,  which 
determine  the  world's  course  for  ages,  is  ended  and 
won.  And  hark !  the  cry  is,  humble  yourselves ! 
Fast  and  pray ! 

This  world  is  double  in  all  its  constitution  ;  as  the 
home  of  our  double  humanity.  High  and  low,  east 
and  west,  right  and  left,  imply  one  another,  and 


282  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

simply  repeat  themselves  through,  all  the  relations. of 
infinite    space.      And    as   riches    imply   poverty,   as 
strength  exists  by  contrast  with  weakness,  so  good  is 
ever  thrown  upon  a  background  of  evil.  .  Every  great 
revelation  of  virtue  is  accompanied  with  one  of  crime. 
Unfathomed   depths    of    evil  lie    under  all   the    sun- 
crowned  heights  of  human  nature.     And,  to-day,  we 
cannot  turn  our  thoughts  to  our  chief,  whom  God  has 
taken,  but  we  are  met  at  once  by  the  startling  sight  of 
the  foulest  of  crimes.     When  the  labors  and  sufferings 
of  four  years  for  good,  culminate  in  peaceful  freedom 
and   the  ascent  of  its  first  representative  to  heaven, 
just  then  the  crime  and  malignity  of  four  years  cul 
minate  in  one  blow,  which  reveals  and  exhausts  the 
whole  spirit  of  treason.     The  names  of  Lincoln  and 
of  Booth  stand  011  the  same  page  of  history,  and  for 
ever  the  glory  of  freedom's  martyr  throws  a  deeper 
gloom  on  the  inverted  immortality  of  treason's  fiend. 
But  a  few  years   since,  both   were   obscure.     N~o 
man   in    America,   if   asked  for   two   names,    which 
should  be  the  very  emblems,  the  one  of  patriotism, 
the   other  of  murder,  to   coming  ages,  would   have 
thought  of  these.     "We  did  not  know  that  we  trod  the 
same  earth  with  men  of  such  possibilities.     And  how 
little  we  know,  now  and  always,  of  others ;  even  of 
ourselves.     Around  us  and  within  us,  sometimes  mov 
ing  dimly,  but  mostly  asleep,  are  the  forces  which, 
awakened,   startle  nations  and  forge  history.      Each 
on-e   bears   within    him    that  which    might   become 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  283 

divine  manhood,  to  raise  his  race  to  something  nobler, 
or  fiendish  manhood,  to  turn  its  joys  to  gall.  Side  by 
side  everywhere  they  stand  and  grow,  the  spirits  of 
love  and  of  murder ;  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  both 
ripening  to  the  harvest.  "  We  walk  on  powder- 
mines."  Every  green  field  of  human  life  grows  over 
a  volcano  of  human  passion. 

But,  turning  from  the  dark  side  now,  let  us  look  at 
the  man  in  whose  memory  we  meet.  Four  years  ago, 
if  we  had  been  asked  to  describe  him,  one  of  us  might 
have  said,  "He  is  a  man  of  strong  practical  sense,  of 
fixed  principle,  firm  and  resolute,  with  a  wonderful 
capacity  for  work,  and  the  ablest  debater  before  the 
people  in  this  land  of  speakers.  He  seems,  too,  to  be 
patient,  tolerant  of  others'  infirmities,  and  the  humblest 
public  man  we  have  ever  known."  We  could  have 
said  little  more.  But  events  have  moved  rapidly  and 
greatly,  for  him  as  for  us ;  and  have  developed  the 
capacities  of  the  man,  and  made  them  manifest  to  us. 
We  look  back  upon  his  person,  now  lost,  and  his  ca 
reer,  already  transfigured  by  his  departure;  and  see 
in  him  a  great  gift  of  God  to  mankind. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  very  keen  sympa 
thies  for  others.  Unselfish  in  his  impulses,  he  labored 
all  his  days  whether,  in  a  humble  life  or  as  a  nation's 
ruler,  for  the  good  of  those  around  him.  He  listened 
with  kindness  and  close  attention  to  all ;  he  made 
himself  in  greatness  as  accessible  as  he  had  been  fami 
liar,  when  himself  undistinguished  from  the  throng. 


284  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

His  feelings  were  strong;  so  strong  that -in  another 
man  they  would  be  considered  a  sure  index  of  "a  good 
hater."  But  he  hated  only  the  principles  he  thought 
wrong ;  not  the  men  who  held  them,  nor  even  the 
men  who  hated  him.  He  would  not  speak  a  word 
against  a  foe.  Striving  to  be  the  president  of  the 
whole  people,  he  exhausted  his  time  and  strength  in 
efforts  to  give  to  all  who  claimed  it  his  fatherly  care. 

With  keen  native  insight,  trained  in  rugged  experi 
ence,  he  pierced  through  the  plots  around  him,  and 
was  rarely  deceived.  His  honest  sincerity  in  politics 
accomplished  more  than  cunning,  and  he  recognized 
this  same  sincerity,  whenever  it  appeared,  and  loved 
and  trusted  it. 

In  spite  of  his  rough  early  life,  his  ways  were  as 
gentle  and  tender  as  a  girl's.  Compelled  to  be  stern 
and  unyielding  in  the  great  outlines  of  administration, 
at  the.  painful  cost  of  hardships  to  individuals,  he 
sought  relief  for  his  own  mind,  in  making  exceptions 
of  kindness,  where  the  opportunity  occurred  to  him. 
In  war  all  his  aim  was  a  righteous  peace  ;  not  the 
grasp  of  power.  And  when  the  tidings  reached  him  of 
the  terrible  repulse  of  Chancellorsville,  all  thoughts  of 
disappointed  hopes  and  broken  policy  were  lost  in 
his  overwhelming  sorrow  for  the  wasted  life  and 
suffering  of  men ;  and  the  strong  man  threw  off  all 
self  control,  and  cried  like  a  broken-hearted  woman. 
Few  have  known,  through  the  struggle,  how  the 
sternest  and  bloodiest  of  wars  was  conducted  by  the 
gentlest  and  tenderest  of  leaders. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  285 

The  controlling  feature  of  his  mind  was  the  sense 
of  justice.  He  was  very  slow  to  work  out  a  moral 
problem ;  he  must  see  every  step  clearly  ;  but  then  he 
was  fixed. '  No  great  measure  of  his  administration 
was  dictated  by  feeling ;  all  came  from  calm  convic 
tions  of  right.  Holding  ever  before  him,  as  the 
compass  of  his  high  office,  a  longing  love  for  his 
country's  welfare,  he  obeyed  its  guidance,  in  prefer 
ence  to  personal  or  political  aims,  and  this  welfare 
he  saw  only  in  the  free  life  of  the  people,  making  its 
own  future.  His  faith  in  the  people  was  invincible, 
marvellous  ;  in  this  he  surpassed  every  ruler  the  world 
has  ever  known.  When  he  saw  them,  as  usual,  wrong 
in  their  first  impulse,  he  awaited,  with  calm  assurance, 
their  final  judgment.  Never,  I  repeat,  did  the  people 
have  a  man  who  loved  and  trusted  them  so,  and 
richly  were  this  love  and  trust  returned.  To  learn 
his  glory,  go  not  to  the  cultured  student,  or  the 
polished  citizen,  to  the  forum  or  the  press :  but  to  the 
cottage  and  to  the  field  of  labor.  Go  to  the  freedmen 
of  the  far  south  ;  and  you  will  hear  "  massa  Lincoln" 
named  next  to  God  ! 

Through  all  his  public  life,  we  may  trace  a  steady 
growth  in  this  man.  His  views  grew  steadily  broader 
and  firmer.  His  grasp  of  power  became  more  confident. 
He  gathered  slowly,  but  most  fixedly,  to  himself  the 
people's  love.  In  nothing  is  this  growth  more  obvious 
than  in  the  religious  tone  of  his  mind.  His  later 
state-papers  show  a  progressing  trust  in  God.  And  if 


286  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

pure  religion  consists  in  doing  justice,  loving  mercy, 
and  walking  in  genuine  humility,  we  must  pronounce 
him  one  of  the  most  religious  of  men.  Events  placed 
him  high,  with  little  agency  and  short  expectation  of 
his  own  ;  and  he  grew  to  'his  circumstances,  gathered 
them  into  himself,  rose  in  mind  and  heart  to  the 
greatness  which  each  rapidly  coming  crisis  called  for. 
There  were  times,  chiefly  in  his  earlier  career,  when 
his  language,  as  well  as  his  form  and  manners,  excited 
the  merriment  of  critics  ;  but  his  fame  could  afford 
this,  for  his  words  by  which  he  spoke  to  all  ages,  were 
deeds.  Yet  his  brief  address  at  Gettysburg  stands 
perhaps  unrivalled  in  modern  oratory,  and  would 
alone  rank  him  with  immortal  names  in  literature. 

But  why  dwell  on  the  sides  and  phases  of  character 
shown  us  by  him  whose  nature  was  well  delineated, 
centuries  before  his  birth  ?  Shakespeare  makes  Wol- 
sey  in  his  disgrace  sketch  to  Cromwell  the  model 
ruler  and  statesman,  and  every  word  fits  our  LINCOLN 
as  if  written  by  a  prophetic  insight. 

"  Love  thyself  last :  cherish  those  hearts  that  hate  thee  : 
Corruption  wins  not  more  than  honesty. 
Still  in  thy  right  hand  carry  gentle  peace, 
To  silence  envious  tongues.    Be  just,  and  fear  not; 
Let  all  the  ends,  thou  aim'st  at,  be  thy  country's, 
Thy  God's,   and  truth's ;  then  if  thou  fall'st,  0  Cromwell, 
Thou  fall'st  a  blessed  martyr." 

Such  was  Abraham  Lincoln  on  the  fourteenth  day  of 
April.  He  then  stood  on  a  pinnacle  of  historic  glory, 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  287 

not  attained  by  any  other  in  this  generation.  It  was  the 
anniversary  of  the  first  fall  of  our  flag  before  treason ; 
and  after  conducting  for  four  years  the  operations  of 
the  largest  armies  in  the  world,  until  his  foes  wrere 
crushed,  he  had  ordered  that  day  to  be  signalized  by 
restoring  the  old  flag.  The  same  old  faithful  hands 
that  pulled  it  down  should  raise  it ;  and  every  battery 
that  fired  upon  it  should  salute  it.  This  was  done  ; 
an  emblem  of  war  ended,  of  peace,  union  and  govern 
ment  restored,  in  the  heart  of  the  south.  I  think 
that  all  ages  to  come,  looking  back  on  that  triumph, 
will  agree  that  the  first  name  in  the  world  on  that  day 
was  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the  United 
States. 

"We  live,  indeed,  in  an  age  of  great  rulers,  who 
seem  greater,  because  succeeding  an  age  of  little  ones. 
A  higher  glory  sits  on  the  thrones  of  Europe  than  for 
ages  past.  Even  the  English  court  has  renewed 
something  of  its  ancient  splendor,  by  the  influence  of 
the  purity  and  refinement  of  its  head,  as  u  mother, 
wife  and  queen."  France  has  been  at  once  plundered 
and  made  greater  by  Napoleon,  who,  after  wading 
"  through  slaughter  to  a  throne  "  has  based  his  empire 
on  wisdom  and  progress.  Victor  Emanuel  has  re 
vived  the  long-faded  glories  of  Italy.  Francis  Joseph 
has  emancipated  himself  from  the  traditional  counsels 
and  policy  of  his  house,  and  strives  nobly  to  give 
constitutional  government  and  financial  life  to  his 
empire.  And,  greatest  of  all, Alexander  of  Russia,  in 
3T 


288  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  character  of  emancipator  of  a  continent,  appears 
as  an  advancer  of  civilization,  and  a  hope  of  mankind. 
Not  forgetting  these  names,  but  remembering 'them 
all,  and  their  greatness,  I  hesitate  not  to  set  one  name 
above  them,  and  to  declare  that  on  the  fourteenth  of 
April  last,  the  first  name  in  the  world  was  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN,  President  of  the  United  States. 

Is  Napoleon  the  architect  of  his  own  power  ?  Lin 
coln  won  his  way,  from  deeper  obscurity,  by  purer 
methods,  to  a  nobler  throne.  Has  Victor  Emanuel 
destroyed  a  hellish  tyranny  in  Naples  ?  Lincoln  has 
abolished  more  completely  one  far  more  odious.  Has 
Alexander  freed  millions  of  serfs  ?  Lincoln  gave  free 
dom  from  equal  bondage  to  a  better  race,  and  upon 
ground  more  fruitful  in  all  that  sustains  and  promises 
civilization,  than  Russia's  most  fertile  fields.  His  ad 
ministration  has  sustained  its  finances  through  crises 
more  terrible  than  even  Austria  has  met.  And  he 
crowned  all  by  an  exalted  and  modest  walk  of  private 
virtue  sterner  and  not  less  pure  than  that  of  England's 
court.  But  that  which  stamps  his  greatness  forever, 
which  sets  him  above  all  these  rulers,  is  this :  he  is 
the  only  man  in  history,  who,  holding  in  his  hand 
boundless  military  power,  and  the  destinies  of  mil 
lions;  sustained  by  exhaustless  resources  and  the 
devotion  of  the  people ;  has  never  been  suspected  of 
using  or  wishing  to  use  them  for  his  personal  aggran 
dizement,  for  any  purpose  but  his  country's  good. 
Only  in  the  bosom  of  republican  civilization  could 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL,  289 

such  patriotism  grow;  only  there  could  it  even  be 
understood.  He  was  his  country's;  he  is  his  country's 
forever.  Richer  with  his  work  and  the  memory  of  all 
he  was,  the  Union  enters  the  new  phase  of  her  his 
tory;  and  on  this  memorial  day,  the  genius  of  the 
Republic  he  saved  bids  his  soul  ascend  to  sit  evermore 
side  by  side  with  Washington;  with  "Honor,  honor, 
honor,  honor  to  him ;  Eternal  honor  to  his  name." 

Farewell,  bright  spirit ;  vesper  star  in  the  constella 
tion  of  freedom's  martyrs,  the  last  and  the  brightest; 
ascend  thy  throne  of  fame,  and  beam  on  us  and  on 
this  land  in  never-fading  glory. 

Looking  to  him,  we  have  nothing  to  mourn.  Earth 
had  nothing  higher  for  him ;  nothing  unattained. 
Amid  the  acclaims  of  a  triumphant  nation,  who  made 
him  their  symbol  of  triumph,  and  the  exultant  grati 
tude  of  a  new-born  race,  to  whom  his  name  was  all 
the  brightness  of  the  future,  to  step  to  heaven ;  was 
not  this  a  fitting  close  to  his  career  ?  A  good  man, 
who  maintained  goodness  inviolate,  and  who  believed, 
beyond  the  common  lot  of  statesmen,  in  God  and  man, 
has  gone  from  man  to  God ;  in  the  ripeness  of  honors, 
in  mature  years,  and  in  the  hour  of  victory.  It  is  no 
loss,  but  all  gain  for  him.  For  that  humanity  he 
served  and  died  for  declares,  in  its  purest  and  complete 
embodiment,  "He  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake, 
the  same  shall  save  it." 

Why  is  it  then  that  these  outward  symbols  of 
mourning  seem  to  have  their  deepest  meaning  to-day  ? 


290  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Why  were  our  hearts  so  long  shocked  and  heavy;  a 
burden  of  undefined  apprehension  upon  them;  the 
nation,  as  it  were,  watching  a  black  shadow,  and  dimly 
framing  of  it  imaginations  of  horrible  import?  We 
have  more  to  remember  to-day  than  the  death  of  our 
friend  and  father.  We  have  to  deal  with  that  which 
has  slain  him.  £Tow,  as  of  old,  a  great  crime  is  felt  to 
be  "a  great  perturbation  in  nature;"  and  at  the  first 
shock  of  this  greatest  of  crimes,  we  felt  as  if  nature's 
laws  were  yielding;  and  we  trembled  for  ourselves 
and  our  children. 

"We  were  dreaming  of  the  sweetest  sounds  to  mor 
tals  ;  peace  after  war ;  pardon  for  mistaken  views  and 
impulsive  crime  ;  restoration  of  brotherhood,  and  a 
national  jubilee.  The  head  of  the  nation  represented 
its  spirit.  He  was  filled  with  peace  and  kindness ; 
his  mind  reacted  from  the  long  strain  of  sternness  and 
contention,  and  overflowed  with  gentleness  and 
pardon.  He  was  busied  with  devices  to  make  re 
pentance  easy  and  restoration  pleasant,  for  his  foes. 
At  this  moment,  in  the  Capital,  amid  throngs  of  those 
who  would  have  died  to  save  him,  he  was  struck 
down  by  treason.  And  the  nation,  startled  from  its 
dreams  of  peace,  arose  to  ask,  bewildered,  what  is  this 
human  serpent  that  stings  again  its  double  benefactor, 
in  the  very  hour  of  mercy  and  pardon?  What  is  this 
spirit,  which  will  not  be  sated  with  blood,  nor  suffer 
kindness  to  live  ?  It  seems  a  new  revelation  of  the 
character  of  our  foe.  The  treason  which  strikes  at 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  291 

our  free  government  is  that  which  murders  the  great 
and  good ;  which  breaks  open  the  sick  chamber  and 
aims  the  assassin's  dagger  at  the  helpless  invalid ; 
which  even  strikes  down  mercy  herself,  in  the  nurse 
of  the  sick,  whose  sacredness  was  never  violated 
before  even  by  the  fiends  of  barbarous  war.  It  is  not 
that  our  ruler  falls.  Epaminondas,  Washington, 
aye,  Jesus  himself  died ;  but  the  cause  of  each  went 
on.  The  Republic  is  rich  in  manhood,  and  can  sur 
vive  its  noblest.  But  we  did  not  realize  before  how 
earnest  and  terrible  are  the  times  we  live  in  and  the 
forces  which  fill  them.  Nothing  is  asleep  to-day ; 
God  and  his  foes  are  in  earnest,  and  we  must  be.  Let 
the  knell  of  our  murdered  chief  rouse  us  to  duties 
and  labors  not  understood  before. 

I  have  seen  in  the  south  a  field  of  blood  where  the 
same  spirit  was  shown.  Some  twenty  acres  of  flat 
land,  skirted  by  graves,  which  had  been  a  race  course 
for  the  chivalry,  were  made  a  prison  for  the  soldiers 
of  the  Union.  There  confined,  many  of  them  with 
out  clothing  of  any  kind,  they  were  exposed  to  the 
fierce  blaze  of  the  July  sun,  and  to  frosts  of  winter. 
Everything  that  an  absence  of  the  requirements  of 
decency,  health  and  comfort  could  inflict  was  suffered 
by  them.  They  were  nearly,  many  of  them  quite 
starved  to  death;  many  more  were  wantonly  mur 
dered  ;  multitudes  died  of  exposure  and  disease. 
They  dug  pits  in  which  to  lie  for  shade  or  warmth ; 
trenches  to  drain  a  few  feet  of  ground  for  a  bed ;  and 


292  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  whole  field  is  scarred  and  pierced  thickly  with 
these  from  end  to  end.  Even  their  dead  at  last  were 
not  removed,  and  no  tools  could  be  obtained ;  so  with 
their  own  fingers  they  dug  graves  for  their  comrades. 
And  pity  itself  was  made  a  crime ;  for  I  saw  women 
in  Charleston  who  had  been  lashed  with  seventy 
stripes  for  attempting  to  give  these  sufferers  a  mor 
sel  of  wholesome  food.  WKy  allude  to  this  ?  To 
show  how  crime  is  linked  together;  how  all  evil  flows 
from  one  foul  inspiration  ;  how  the  spirit  that  mur 
dered  Abraham  Lincoln  is  everywhere  the  same  ;  the 
spirit  of  treason.  Do  you  ask,  where  is  his  murderer? 
Dissolved  into  thin  air,  a  vision,  a  name.  But  the 
people  of  this  land  will  ever  feel,  that,  wherever  from 
this  day  a  hand  is  uplifted  against  this  flag,  against 
the  nation,  against  human  freedom,  there  is  the  in 
spiration  of  treason;  there  is  his  murderer.  The 
traitor  hitherto  may  have  been  misled ;  the  traitor 
henceforth  is  the  conscious  ally  of  the  assassin,  and 
adopts  as  his  own  all  the  foul  crimes,  which,  through 
this  war,  have  humiliated  manhood  by  shewing  its 
strange  possibilities  of  fiendishness. 

Amid  all  our  excitements  and  apprehensions,  we 
have  felt  one  quieting  power  ;  one  thing  is  calm,  his 
great  spirit  looking  down  upon  us.  What,  could  he 
speak,  would  be  his  bidding?  Words  surely,  fuller 
than  ever  of  his  grand  characteristics  of  patriotism 
and  kindness.  And  his  voice  would  be  lifted  loudly 
against  the  clamor,  now  so  wide  and  high,  for  ven- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  298 

geance.  He  loved  ever  justice,  acting  by  the  forms 
of  justice,  and  dwelling  in  the  house  of  mercy. 
And  he  would  bid  us  gather  calmness  and  strength  ; 
and  in  the  quiet  dignity  of  an  outraged  nation,  with 
out  passion,,  but  like  God,  slowly  and  surely  to  hold 
an  inquisition  for  blood.  He  would  bid  us,  as  utter 
ing  the  weightiest  words  of  his  whole  career,  to  seize 
the  suspected,  to  bring  them  only  before  the  ordinary 
and  regular  tribunals  of  justice  ;  particularly  to  hear 
all  facts,  weigh  them  well,  leaning  to  merciful  doubts  ; 
and,  when  guilt  is  fully  ascertained,  execute  with 
sublime  delay  the  sentence  of  justice,  amid  the  accla 
mations  of  the  world.  He  would  say,  this  is  the  only 
government  on  the  earth  possessed  of  such  magnifi 
cent  self-restraint  as  to  make  this  possible.  That,  if 
this  is  done,  he  is  glad  to  have  given  his  life,  that  the 
world  may  see  the  perfect  organization,  the  dignity, 
energy  and  justice  of  a  great  republic,  in  this  most 
bewildering  scene.  That  if  this  is  done,  all  is  done. 
The  problem  of  reconstructing  society  in  the  south 
has  110  difficulties  invincible  to  a  people  who  can  do 
this.  And  we  can  do  it.  Let  the  people  themselves 
demand,  as  the  right  of  their  calm  dignity  and  noble 
wrath,  that  this  be  done.  Let  them  hold  back  every 
arm  that  would  strike  down  even  treason  and  murder, 
by  summary  and  irregular  methods,  and  await  the 
slow,  great  stroke  of  the  divine  arm  of  law. 

Such  would  be  the  lesson,  of  the  highest  patriotism, 
above'  the  storm  of  passion,  in  the  serene   calm  of 


294  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

heaven.  This  nation  cannot  afford  a  fevered  investi 
gation,  an  irregular  judgment,  a  sentence  by  a  tribunal 
not  known  to  the  laws.  We  are  rich  to-day.  This 
war,  so  wasteful  of  material  wealth,  has  left  us  rich 
in  historic  life.  Our  old  reproach  among  the  nations 
was,  the  want  of  a  storied  past.  Four  years  have 
given  it  to  us,  with  long  rolls  of  heroic  ancestries, 
countless  shrines  for  pilgrimage,  an  infinity  of  noble 
memories,  worth  more  than  a  series  of  ages  of  less 
fruitful  life.  Have  they  shewn  us  depths  in  humanity? 
They  have  revealed  heights  of  heroism,  beyond  the 
fairy  tales  of  chivalry.  The  boy  who  threw  himself 
across  a  cask  of  powder  to  protect  the  ship  from  explo 
sion  at  Koanoke  Island,  is  one  of  a  thousand  immor 
talities.  The  chief  story  of  fortitude  in  the  French 
revolutionary  wars,  was  the  famous  account  given  by 
Barrere  of  the  sinking  of  La  Vengeur,  going  down 
with  all  on  board  shouting  defiance  at  their  guns, 
and  "  Vive  la  Republique."  This  was  false;  but  the 
true  story  of  the  Cumberland  more  than  replaces  it 
in  the  heroic  annals  of  man.  History  is  enriched  and 
human  hopes  enlarged  by  these  records.  We  are  left 
rich  too  in  patriotism,  to  inspire  and  hallow  heroic 
force.  A  tide  of  passion  and  of  power  has  been 
raised  by  this  crisis  which  will  not  recede  till  this  flag 
waves  everywhere  over  this  nation,  yet  waves  not 
over  one  who  does  not  love  it  freely,  and  better  than 
his  life.  How  we  love  it  to-day!  How  bright  its 
colors  seem !  They  are  reawakened  in  splendor  by 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  295 

the  storm.  They  are  the  brighter,  for  the  very 
rainbow  which  the  tears  of  our  grief  bend  over  it. 
The  blood  of  Abraham  Lincoln  has  crimsoned  every 
stripe,  and  his  bright  soul  shines  out  as  its  central 
star.  Let  it  enfold  his  ashes  to-day,  tenderly  as  a 
nation's  love,  and  wave  over  his  last  resting  place,  an 
eternal  emblem  of  peace. 

Yes,  we  are  rich  to-day,  too  rich,  too  great,  for  any 
vindictive  passion,  any  haste  in  wrath.  Never  had 
nation  such  opportunities  for  moral  greatness  as  ours. 
We  have  won  greatness  in  patriotic  fervor,  in  heroism, 
as  well  as  in  resources  :  now  let  us  crown  all  with 
the  greatness  of  forbearance.  The  law  for  murder 
is  fixed  by  the  consent  of  the  world.  Let  it  be  execut 
ed  legally.  But  the  law  for  treason  is  a  shifting 
code,  written  through  all  history  in  blood,  but  not 
based,  as  the  other,  on  the  moral  sense  of  mankind. 
Let  us  show  that  we  can  afford  what  no  other  nation 
has  ever  given,  magnanimity  to  a  fallen  foe.  The 
effect  of  such  a  policy,  boldly  and  thoroughly  pursued, 
upon  Europe,  on  posterity,  abov.e  all  on  our  own 
national  character,  can  scarcely  be  estimated.  It 
would  strengthen  the  principle  of  self-government 
more  than  all  our  victories  in  war.  For  it  would 
show  that  this  is  not  a  triumph  only  of  strength,  but 
of  law ;  of  that  sublime  law  which  can  vindicate  and 
administer  itself;  which  can  conquer  the  spirit  of 
treason  in  the  heart,  and  make  patriots  of  a  com 
munity  of  traitors.  Without  one  feeling  of  sympathy 

38 


296  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

or  regard  for  the  murderers  of  our  prisoners  and  of 
our  President,  but  because  we  regard  ourselves  and 
law,  we  must  leave  all  crime  to  the  regular  adminis 
tration  of  law,  we  must  pardon  all  but  that  which  is 
crime  by  all  human  codes ;  and  so  do  greatly  the 
work  of  greatness. 

It  is  in  this  spirit,  applying  the  Christian  rule  of  love 
to  our  political  action,  that  we  can  act  wisely  in  this 
and  in  every  crisis.  Love  to  God,  our  country  and 
truth,  will  inspire  and  consecrate  hatred  to  every 
spirit  that  opposes  these,  and  the  halo  of  God's  own 
smile  will  be  upon  the  nation,  as,  in  the  pure  spirit  of 
patriotism,  we  execute  his  law  upon  the  second  crime 
of  history,  done  on  the  anniversary  of  the  first  and 
darkest,  the  murder  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  Let 
it  be  in  this  spirit  of  love  that  the  nation  stands  to-day 
before  its  dead,  and,  yearning  with  affectionate  hope 
for  the  return  of  its  thankless  children,  yet  vows  un 
dying  hatred  to  the  treason  that  struck  him  down. 
By  every  holy  bond  that  ties  men  to  a  solemn  duty, 
we  will  drive  out  that  satanic  inspiration  from  the 
land ;  we  will  have  a  nation  purified,  regenerate, 
dedicated  in  love  as  a  shrine  to  the  God  of  liberty. 
Accepting  as  our  leaders  those  who  may  be  spared  us 
by  Him,  who,  while  "he  buries  his  workmen,  carries 
on  his  work,"  we  will  do  our  work,  which  is  his,  and 
then  lie  down  with  ortr  greatest,  under  the  flag  he 
died  for. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  297 

DISCOURSE  DELIVERED  AT  THE  THIRD  STREET  METHO 
DIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

BY    REV.    DAVID    T.    ELLIOTT. 

And  Samuel  died  ;  and  all  the  Israelites  were  gathered  together,  and 
lamented  him,  and  buried  him  in  his  house  at  Eamah. — 1  SAMUEL,  xxv,  1. 

A  spirit  of  general  mourning  and  universal  sorrow 
swept  over  the  whole  land  of  Palestine.  In  every 
household  and  hamlet,  as  well  as  in  town  and  city, 
a  dark  shadow  rested  upon  the  people.  The  occasion, 
the  death  of  Samuel,  called  up  the  most  sacred  re 
miniscences  and  awakened  the  deepest  anxieties. 
Samuel,  under  the  theocratic  system  of  government 
with  which  God  had  honored  this  nation,  was  the 
only  visible  representative  of  their  glorious  King,  and 
the  accredited  minister  between  the  people  and  their 
Divine  Sovereign.  And  when,  in  their  folly,  they 
desired  a  visible  king,  that  they  might  resemble  the 
nations  surrounding  them,  he  under  God  was  their 
stay  and  confidence  during  the  period  of  their  politi 
cal  revolution.  Known  and  honored  for  his  remarka 
ble  piety,  purity  and  integrity,  a  patriotic,  devoted 
man,  set  apart  to  the  service  of  God  and  his  own 
nation,  he  had  evinced  the  strongest  attachment  to 
the  people,  and  this  fact  joined  to  his  superior  abilities 
in  providing  for  all  the  interests  of  all  classes  of  citi 
zens,  had  made  him  the  general  favorite,  unto  whom 
they  looked  for  counsel,  and  upon  whose  known  in- 


298  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

tegrity  they  relied,  without  distrust.  And  thus  it  was 
that  all  the  people  felt  his  death  as  a  personal  afflic 
tion  and  mourned  it  as  a  public  calamity.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  this  general  sorrow  —  this  universal  gath 
ering  of  all  the  people  was  a  fitting  tribute  to  his 
eminence  and  worth,  a  becoming  expression  of  a  na 
tion's  appreciation  of  his  sincere  devotion  and  un 
swerving  fidelity  to  all  the  trusts  committed  to  his 
hands.  We  call  your  attention  to  this  case  at  this 
time,  as  indicating  the  proprieties  of  such  an  occasion, 
as  well  as  suitably  introducing  the  subject  we  are,  this 
day,  called  together  to  contemplate. 

Peculiar  and  interesting  as  were  the  circumstances 
of  the  Jewish  nation  upon  the  occasion  of  Samuel's 
death,  they  but  in  part  suggest  the  peculiar  and  im 
pressive  influences  that  surround  this  occasion  in  our 
national  history.  A  nation  greater  than  the  Jews 
are  overwhelmed  in  sadness  and  grief.  A  loss  such 
as  Israel  could  not  feel  in  the  death  of  their  beloved 
and  honored  prophet  (who  was  full  of  years  and  was 
called  away  by  the  visitation  of  God),  has  befallen 
our  beloved  country  and  is  felt  as  irreparable  by  a 
great  nation.  On  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth  of 
April  last,  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  assassin,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
He  died  a  martyr  for  his  country  and  the  glorious 
principle  of  universal  liberty.  We  are  met  to-day  to 
recount  his  virtues,  study  his  character,  and  pay  our 
grateful  tribute  to  his  eminent  abilities  and  moral 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  299 

worth.  In  this  discourse  we  propose  to  consider  the 
causes  that  developed  the  spirit  that  devised  and  ac 
complished  this  sad  event,  his  assassination.  Then 
to  look  at  the  history,  character  and  doings  of  our 
late  chief  magistrate,  and  close  with  such  practical 
reflections  as  may  seem  suitable  to  the  occasion. 

In  undertaking  so  much  in  the  compass  of  a  single 
discourse,  you  will  see  that  our  sketch  must  be  very 
meagre  arid  imperfect.  In  looking  for  the  influences 
that  culminated  in  this  terrible  affliction,  we  ask  you 
to  go  back  with  us  to  the  earliest  period  of  our  na 
tional  history.  In  the  year  1776  the  people  of  the 
colonies  of  North  America  made  a  bid  for  independ 
ence.  They  heroically  took  their  stand  upon  the 
rights  of  man.  They  published  and  proclaimed  as 
their  honest  belief  the  doctrine  of  universal  equality 
and  inalienable  rights,  saying  "We  hold  these  truths 
to  be  self-evident  that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that 
they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  ina 
lienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Appealing  to  God  as  the 
judge  of  their  sincerity  and  of  the  rectitude  of  their 
intentions,  they  asked  and  received  the  support  and 
confidence  of  the  people  at  home,  and  also  the  sympa 
thy  and  assistance  of  people  abroad.  Inspired  by 
these  sentiments  they  rose  with  the  struggle,  until 
under  God  they  attained  victory  and  nationality.  It 
was  the  sublime  idea  of  the  equality  and  rights  of 
man  that  developed  and  invigorated  manhood  into 


300  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  sublimest  proportions  ever  then  witnessed  upon 
earth,  that  brought  forth  a  nation  worthy  to  be  free 
because  it  manifested  the  true  spirit  of  freedom.  This 
declaration  was  the  charter,  the  watchword,  the  battle 
cry  and  the  grand  central  principle  of  our  fathers 
through  the  bloody,  trying  period  of  the  revolution, 
until  the  nations  of  the  earth  arose  and  recognized 
their  claims  and  gave  them  independence.  But  when 
the  end  was  gained — when  the  men  who  had  struggled 
and  endured  through  the  dark  trial  of  war  to  attain 
their  own  rights,  and  had  sought  God's  blessing  upon 
their  effort  until  they  had  succeeded,  standing  so 
lemnly  pledged  to  each  other  to  forfeit  life,  fortune,  and 
sacred  honor  rather  than  abandon  their  principles  — 
when  these  men  met  in  council  to  form  a  constitution 
and  adjust  a  polity  for  the  government  of  a  free  peo 
ple,  they  strangely  and  to  my  mind  unaccountably 
failed  in  the  most  essential  particulars.  It  is  lamenta 
bly  true,  that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
does  nowhere  recognize  the  existence  of  the  Divine 
Being.  And  it  is  unaccountably  true  also,  that  it 
does  recognize  slavery.  The  God  whose  help  our 
fathers  had  implored  in  their  trial,  was  forgotten  in 
their  prosperity,  and  the  principle  upon  which  they 
had  appealed  to  the  confidence  and  intelligence  of  the 
world  was  repudiated  in  this  great  instrument  made 
to  direct  and  control  a  nation's  destiny.  Yes,  they  did 
recognize  slavery,  under  another  name  I  admit,  but 
this  simple  evasion  only  makes  the  fact  more  glaring. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  3Q1 

They  recognized  it  under  protest,  I  confess,  but  in 
recognizing  it  at  all,  they  granted  it  a  right  to  exist, 
and  in  so  doing  ignored  and  repudiated  practically 
what  they  were  pledged  to  maintain,  at  the  cost  of 
life,  fortune,  and  sacred  honor. 

Here  began  that  course  of  inconsistencies  and  evil 
influences,  which,  in  the  progress  of  events,  step  by 
step,  insidiously  led  to  the  dark  and  bloody  period  of 
treason  and  rebellion  through  which  we  have  passed. 
Year  after  year  the  glorious  declaration  was  read,  and 
orators  waxed  eloquent  over  its  noble  sentiments, 
while  year  by  year  slavery  grew  stronger  and  en 
trenched  itself  more  firmly  in  the  legislation  of  the 
nation.  At  first  it  was  simply  tolerated,  and  by  wise 
and  patriotic  statesmen  was  deplored.  Then  it  was 
countenanced  by  the  practice  and  patronage  of  men  of 
talents.  Soon  men  stood  up  in  its  defence  and  advo 
cated  it  upon  politic  grounds.  At  length  its  support 
became  a  means  of  political  preferment.  Later  still, 
it  was  advocated  as  the  highest  style  of  civilization. 
Finally  it  was  canonized  as  a  divine  institution  and 
maintained  as  authorized  by  holy  scripture.  Churches 
were  divided  at  its  bidding.  Legislative  bodies  the 
most  grave  and  important  were  elected  in  its  support, 
and  the  judiciary  influenced  to  act  in  its  defence. 
What  was  only  tolerated  at  the  first,  under  protest, 
grew  to  be  the  grand  central  idea  with  many  of  the 
people,  until  American  citizens  were  mobbed  and 
martyred  upon  the  suspicion  that  they  opposed  slavery. 


302  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Slave-holders  grew  more  and  more  arrogant  and  un 
scrupulous.  While  wealth  poured  in  upon  them  with 
out  their  effort;  while  they  were  tolerated  in  the 
greatest  sensual  gratification,  and  the  unprincipled 
assigned  them  the  proudest  social  position  ;  while  pre 
sidents,  senators,  representatives  and  judges  were 
elected  in  their  interest,  it  is  not  remarkable  that  they 
came  to  demand  that  all  men  should  receive  their  doc 
trines  and  the  whole  national  domain  be  given  to  them 
as  the  theatre  of  this  institution.  All  who  disagreed 
with  them  in  sentiment  were  stigmatized  as  "  abolition 
ists,"  " mud-sills,"  "greasy  mechanics."  The  declara 
tion  of  independence  was  openly  discarded  and  the 
statements  therein  made,  pronounced  untrue.  Free 
labor  or  labor  by  the  white  man  who  claimed  citizen 
ship  was  denounced  and  dishonored.  Every  right  of 
the  common  people  was  either  invaded  or  threatened, 
and  the  assurance  was  given,  that  unless  all  their 
demands  were  complied  with,  the  union  of  the  states 
should  be  broken  up  and  our  government  overthrown 
and  destroyed. 

During  this  period,  however,  there  were  men  who 
sounded  the  note  of  alarm.  They  exposed  the  prac 
tices  and  exhibited  the  spirit  of  slave-holders,  they 
advocated  the  doctrines  of  the  declaration,  to  wit, 
man's  equality  and  the  rights  of  man.  As  a  result 
of  their  labors  and  the  reaction  produced  by  the  un 
scrupulous  character  and  arrogant  assumptions  of  the 
slaveocracy,  the  people  were  at  length  aroused,  their 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  3Q3 

moral  sense  was  awakened,  and  the  agitation  led  to  a 
more   perfect  understanding  of  the  question  and  an 
appreciation  of  our  relation  to  it  as  citizens,  and   our 
responsibility  as  American  freemen.     An  organized 
opposition  to  slavery  extension  was  attained,   and  the 
issue   made  by  an  appeal  to  the  electors  of  the  land 
upon  this  question.     And  though  in  the  first  attempt 
the  friends  of  freedom  were  defeated,  still  they  ex 
hibited  such  an  inveterate  hostility  to  human  bondage 
and   such  a  determination  to  utterly  refuse  granting 
the  demands  of  slavery,  that  the  system  was  believed 
in  danger,  and  its  votaries  prepared  to   precipitate 
an  arrangement  long  contemplated,  namely,  to  break 
up    the  nation.      Aware    that   they  had    succeeded 
in  their  purpose  to  elect  a  man  to  the  presidency 
in   1856   who  was   pledged   to  act  in  the  intersts  of 
slavery,  only  by  massing  all  the   friends    of  slavery, 
rum,  profligacy  and  iniquity   generally,    with    office 
holders  and  seekers  of  place,  together  with  thousands 
of  good   and   honest   people   who  were    misled    by 
calling    this  aggregation  of   all    corruptions    by   the 
popular   title  of  Democracy  (to  which  the  party  as 
such  had  no  more  right  than  Satan    has  to  divine 
honors),  they  determined  to  find  some  justification,  if 
possible,  for   rebellion.     The   issue   was  again  made 
upon   slavery  extension,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
chosen    standard   bearer,    an    avowed   enemy    of  the 
institution,    a  man   from  among  the  people,  of  tried 
principle  and  of  known  integrity.     They  knew   that 
39 


304  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

neither  flattery  nor  menace  would  move  him,  and 
being  resolved  to  ruin  the  country  which  they  could 
not  rule,  they  decided  to  make  his  election  a  pretext  for 
rebellion.  He  was  elected.  A  good  providence  gave 
the  United  States  a  ruler  worthy  to  be  entrusted  with 
the  great  interests  of  the  age,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
world.  Rebellion  was  inaugurated.  Slavery  took  the 
field  against  liberty.  The  forces  were  marshaled,  and 
the  most  appalling  struggle  waxed  hotter  and  still 
hotter. 

Times  there  were  when  men  looked  on  with  bated 
breath,  when  every  bosom  swelled  with  anxiety,  and 
when  every  interest  of  man  and  the  nation  seemed 
to  be  in  immediate  peril  and  to  hang  upon  a  single 
thread.  But  one  noble  chief  seemed  to  rise  with 
every  trial  and  to  comprehend  every  emergency. 
When  the  fitting  occasion  arrived,  slavery,  the  parent 
of  all  this  mischief,  was  abolished  and  treason  disfran 
chised.  Blow  succeeded  blow  that  struck  the  very 
heart  of  rebellion,  and  made  all  loyal  men  believe 
our  President  worthy  to  be  called  honest  still.  But 
with  every  step  in  the  progress  of  the  war,  the  spirit 
of  slavery,  for  it  was  the  animus  of  the  rebellion, 
seemed  more  and  more  malignant  and  unscrupulous. 
See  this  evinced  in  the  cold  blooded  murder  of  men 
who  on  the  battle  field  ask  quarter  or  lie  wounded 
when  the  struggle  is  past.  See  it  in  the  plan  to  burn 
our  cities  and  infect  whole  communities  with  the 
plague.  See  it  in  the  barbaric  cruelty  with  which 
they  hunt,  murder  and  destroy  loyal  people  at  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  305 

south,  who  will  not  join  their  fortunes  with  rebellion. 
See  it  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war,  herding 
them  without  shelter,  clothing  or  food  in  most  mala 
rious  places,  making  pastime  of  their  sufferings,  and 
without  provocation,  murdering  them  for  sport.  And 
finally,  as  a  fitting  sequel  to  this  most  infamous  rebel 
lion,  see  the  evidence  of  this  spirit,  in  the  conspiracy 
to  assassinate  Abraham  Lincoln,  Lieutenant  General 
Grant,  together  with  the  heads  of  the  departments  of 
state. 

Such  my  brethren  was  the  spirit  which  produces 
this  sad  event,  and,  at  one  blow,  clothes  a  continent  in 
mourning  and  causes  the  greatest  grief  to  a  whole 
people.  Slavery  acknowledged,  tolerated,  defended, 
advocated,  canonized,  has  begotten  and  brought  forth 
this  harvest  of  consequences.  But  in  the  fall  of  the 
rebellion  slavery  itself  has  fallen.  Now  the  institu 
tion  lies  stark  and  pulseless.  Let  the  amendment  of 
the  constitution  bury  the  hideous  corpse  beyond  the 
power  of  a  resurrection.  But  oh,  at  what  a  cost  of 
precious  blood  and  agony  have  we  gained  this  result ! 
How  many  are  the  sorrowing  households  !  Fathers 
mourn  for  sons  like  David  for  Absalom.  Rachel  weeps 
for  her  children.  "Widowhood  and  orphanage  are 
made  common.  Battle-scarred  and  mutilated  heroes 
are  all  around  and  among  us,  telling  of  the  cost. 
"What  patriot  blood,  scalding  tears,  and  crushed  affec 
tions,  are  the  price  of  victory.  But  God  reigns.  It  is 
His  doing  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.  Liberty 


306  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

lives.  Republican  institutions  survive.  True  demo 
cracy  grows  strong  in  the  land.  A  great,  proud  and 
powerful  nation  remains,  purged,  redeemed,  regener 
ated  I  trust,  to  challenge  the  admiration  of  mankind 
and  command  the  respect  of  the  world.  In  this  his 
tory  are  both  the  argument  and  example,  demonstrat 
ing  man's  capacity  to  maintain  his  rights  and  sustain 
democratic  government. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  history,  character  and  acts 
of  our  lamented  chief  magistrate.  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  born  in  Hardin  county,  Kentucky,  in  the  year 
1810,  of  poor  yet  pious  parents.  His  childhood  and 
youth  were  clouded  and  embarassed  by  poverty, 
ignorance  and  slavery.  He  belonged  to  a  class  who 
were  without  social  advantages  or  power  to  secure 
them,  being  at  the  same  time  cordially  despised  by 
both  planters  and  slaves,  and  known  as  "  poor  whites," 
a  class  io  whom  slavery  made  labor  a  disgrace  and 
knowledge  a  crime.  To  him,  under  these  circumstan 
ces,  the  prospect  for  learning  and  honor  was  dark  and 
forbidding.  Yet  whatever  advantages  he  did  enjoy 
were  earnestly  improved.  He  learned  to  regard 
slavery  as  a  great  political  and  social  evil,  as  well 
as  a  crying  sin  against  God  and  man.  During  this 
period  of  youth  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  the 
then  new  and  wild  lands  of  Indiana.  Here  his  advan 
tages  were  but  little  greater  than  in  Kentucky,  while 
here  befel  him  the  greatest  trial  and  misfortune  of  his 
early  life,  in  the  death  of  his  pious  and  excellent 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  307 

mother,  who,  like  the  mother  of  Washington,  instilled 
into  his  mind  a  vigorous  and  devoted  love  of  truth 
and  honesty,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  the 
integrity  of  character  that  caused  him  to  be  known 
as  honest  Abe. 

From  such  a  boyhood  and  such  surroundings  came 
forth  the  great,  good,  the  honest,  true,  patriotic  and 
talented  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  wrestled  with  diffi 
culties  and  overcame  them :  encountered  embarrass 
ments  and  triumphed  over  them  ;  rising  steadily,  not 
because  endowed  with  any  remarkable  genius,  but  by 
the  power  of  steady  application ;  not  as  the  result  of 
patronage  of  the  great  and  honorable,  but  by  the 
force  of  correct  principles,  honest  purposes,  and 
patient  perseverance  in  earnest  labors.  His  greatness 
is  the  reward  of  work,  simply  work,  as  God  designed 
for  man.  Work  brought  him  from  obscurity  to  dis 
tinction,  and  work  enabled  him  to  hold  the  esteem, 
the  affections  and  confidence  of  the  wise,  patriotic 
and  pure,  amid  all  the  trials  of  his  position  and  the 
differences  of  opinion  upon  the  many  important 
events  of  his  administration. 

When  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  the 
whole  country  was  wild  writh  excitement.  As  his  old 
neighbors  bade  him  adieu,  his  simple,  honest  request 
was  "  pray  for  me."  He  sought  the  national  capital, 
and  even  then  assassins  dogged  his  steps  and  lay  in 
wait  along  his  path.  When  he  reached  Washington, 
dismay  and  consternation  filled  every  bosom  —  so 


308  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

much  so,  that  those  whose  curiosity  led  them  to  wit 
ness  his  induction  into  office,  were  hastily  organized 
into  a  guard  to  protect  him  from  assault.  Under 
these  circumstances  he  pronounced  his  inaugural, 
which  was  so  calm  and  man]y,  as  to  inspire  confi 
dence  to  that  extent  that  the  old  battle-scarred  and 
war-worn  veteran,  Lieutenant  General  Scott,  ex 
claimed  with  tears,  "  We  have  a  country  left,  thank 
God,  we  have  a  country  left!"  Dispassionate  and 
calm,  he  looked  upon  the  surrounding  omens  of 
trouble  and  prepared  for  the  shock  of  war.  He  found 
our  arsenals  plundered  of  arms  and  munitions,  our 
navy  scattered  upon  distant  and  unimportant  mis 
sions,  our  treasury  robbed,  our  small  standing  army 
hemmed  in  by  rebel  plotters  who  endeavored  (too 
successfully,  in  many  cases)  to  lead  it  into  trea 
sonable  conspiracies,  many  men  educated  at  the  na 
tion's  expense  in  military  and  naval  schools,  joined  in 
fortune  with  the  south,  our  own  people  mistaken  as 
to  the  design  and  power  of  rebels,  and  in  many  minds 
a  feeling  of  determined  hostility  to  war  under  any 
circumstances,  owing  in  general  to  the  former  politi 
cal  affinities  and  fear  that  party  should  suffer.  Our 
national  capital  was  threatened  by  invasion,  and 
alarm  and  confusion  held  carnival  at  the  seat  of  gov 
ernment.  He  issued  a  call  for  seventy-five  thousand 
men  to  defend  Washington,  and  this  was  treated,  by 
not  a  few,  as  an  unwarrantable  assumption  of  power. 
The  avenues  of  communication  with  the  city  were 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  309 

closed  up.  Union  soldiers  were  murdered  on  their 
way  to  defend  our  old  flag,  and  almost  every  thing 
seemed  unpromising  and  forbidding.  In  this  con 
nection  let  me  accord  all  honor  to  Major  General 
John  E.  "Wool  of  our  own  loyal  city,  who  nobly 
sprung  to  the  rescue,  and  without  waiting  for  express 
orders  promptly  forwarded  relief  to  an  embarrassed 
and  suffering  garrison. 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  these  excitements  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  never  faltered,  nor  for  one  moment 
showed  signs  of  willingness  to  give  up  any  material 
interest  of  his  important  trust.  He  rose  with  each 
emergency,  grasped  every  question  and  calmly  looked 
to  the  ultimate  result.  United  with  his  noble  corps 
of  intimate  advisers,  he  marshaled  and  organized  an 
army  that  astonished  the  world,  created  a  navy,  com 
pared  to  which  all  the  fleets  of  other  nations  were 
feeble  and  useless,  established  a  system  of  finance 
which  commanded  the  entire  confidence  of  capitalists 
at  home  and  made  a  loan  from  other  nations  unneces 
sary,  and  inspired  a  generous  confidence  among  the 
masses  of  the  people  that  assured  him  of  their  un 
wavering  support.  Seizing  the  opportune  moment, 
he  sent  out  his  emancipation  proclamation  that  gave 
personal  liberty  to  millions  of  loyal  people  who,  under 
all  the  pressure  of  their  unfortunate  condition,  had 
never  been  untrue  to  the  dear  old  flag,  thus  restoring 
the  dishonored  declaration  of  seventy-six,  and  by  his 
large,  magnanimous  and  prudent  policy,  and  his  fear- 


310  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

less,  indomitable  determination  to  maintain  the  in 
tegrity  and  unity  of  the  government,  compelled  even 
his  enemies  to  respect  his  principles. 

Amid  all  his  cares,  anxieties  and  duties,  he  listened 
to  the  grievance  of  the  poorest,  and  redressed  the 
wrong  that  afflicted  the  meanest  loyal  citizen.  Unin- 
timidated  by  menace  and  unseduced  by  flattery,  he 
held  on  his  way.  Reflected  to  his  more  than  royal 
position  by  such  an  honorable  and  astonishing  unani 
mity  as  no  man  had  ever  witnessed  in  the  past,  and  as 
may  never  occur  again,  he  entered  anew  upon  his 
work  in  the  same  spirit  and  zeal,  while  almost  uni 
versal  acclamation  accorded  him  wisdom,  greatness  and 
worth.  He  lived  to  see  his  desire  largely  accom 
plished,  to  know  that  his  policy  was  appreciated  and 
approved,  that  the  wisdom  and  purity  of  his  adminis 
tration  were  admitted,  and  to  see  the  proudest  and 
most  defiant  leaders  of  the  rebellion  prisoners  of  war 
or  fugitives  in  their  own  land.  He  lived  to  know  that 
the  power  of  organized  treason  was  broken  and  well 
nigh  subdued.  He  lived  to  receive  and  enjoy  the 
very  highest  honors  ever  paid  to  mortal  man  because 
they  were  the  spontaneous  offerings  of  a  free  people, 
to  know  that  his  name  stood  second  to  none  in  Ameri 
can  history  and  would  be  the  pride  and  glory  of  the 
American  people,  and  to  have  millions  of  enfran 
chised  men,  made  so  by  his  act,  rise  up  and  call  him 
blessed. 

And  here,  in  this  meridian  of  his  strength,  power, 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  3H 

honor  and  usefulness,  on  this  summit  of  earthly 
grandeur  and  glory,  with  the  future  prosperity,  power 
and  greatness  of  the  country,  he,  under  God,  had 
saved,  opening  before  him,  HE  FELL,  he  fell  by  the 
hand  of  an  assassin,  who  acted  in  the  interest,  and,  I 
have  no  doubt,  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  deeply 
laid  plan  of  the  slaveholders'  rebellion.  He  fell  a 
martyr  to  his  honored  principles  and  for  the  liberty  he 
had  loved  so  well.  And  as  he  fell  he  bequeathed  to 
his  country  all  the  honors  he  had  so  nobly  won  and 
blessings  such  as  none  had  ever  conferred  before, 
leaving  his  name  written  in  the  proudest  place  of  the 
proudest  history  of  the  freest  people  that  ever  dwelt 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  graven  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen,  rich  as  well  as  poor,  learned  as  well 
as  ignorant,  so  that  their  boast  shall  be  to  say,  "  I 
voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  was  his  fellow  citizen." 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN!  A  name  that  will  be  pro 
nounced  with  reverence  in  all  lands,  and  shall  be 
embalmed  in  the  memories  and  enshrined  in  the  af 
fections  of  freedom's  sons  in  all  ages !  While  his 
illustrious  character  shall  be  pointed  out  as  a  model  of 
true  greatness,  and  his  successful  struggle  with  ad 
versity  and  embarrassment  as  the  inspiration  bestowed 
upon  such  as  are  not  favored  with  patronage  nor  en 
dowed  with  genius,  while  his  name  shall  be  trans 
mitted  to  posterity  as  another  glorious  example  of 
sincere  devotion  to  liberty  and  the  elevation  and  hap 
piness  of  mankind,  he  also  shall  be  distinguished  and 

40 


312  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

remembered  as  an  honest  man  and  as  the  Saviour  of 
his  country.  At  his  death  a  nation's  tears  were  the 
most  fitting  offering  to  his  virtue,  while  its  anxieties 
and  fears  evidence  the  strong  confidence  it  had  re 
posed  in  him.  Blessings  rest  upon  his  desolated  and 
stricken  household,  and  peace  be  to  his  ashes  as  well 
as  all  honor  to  his  name. 

But  God,  our  country  and  duty  remain,  and  we 
are  called  from  these  sad  reflections  to  other  cares 
and  to  hold  up  other  hands.  Let  us  look  at  this  call 
upon  us.  Andrew  Johnson,  his  successor  in  office,  is 
now  constitutionally  the  President  of  these  United 
States,  and  as  upon  him  much  depends  as  to  the 
adjustment  of  difficult  and  important  matters,  under 
the  present  state  of  things,  I  am  happy  to  say  that  he 
was  chosen  to  fill  the  second  office  in  the  gift  of 
American  citizens  because  of  his  capability  for  im 
portant  position  and  duty,  because  he  possessed  the 
true  American  spirit  of  devotion  to  liberty,  because 
of  his  noble  stand  against  secession  and  rebellion  and 
because  he  maintained  his  position  in  the  true  spirit 
of  manly  devotion  to  freedom,  and  sustained  the 
grand  old  flag  of  his  country.  I  this  day  thank  God 
that  he,  being  a  man  so  tried,  we,  without  any  mis 
givings  may  confide  in  his  patriotic  principles,  his 
superior  abilities,  and  his  personal  sense  of  justice 
and  right  in  these  trying  times.  I  rejoice,  moreover, 
that  he  wisely  retains  as  his  constitutional  advisers 
those  tried  and  worthy  men  whom  the  people  have 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  313 

learned  to  love  and  trust  without  reserve.  Let  us  then 
pray  for  Johnson  as  we  have  prayed  for  Lincoln,  that 
Almighty  God  may  bless  and  guide  him  in  all  those 
matters,  upon  the  proper  adjustment  of  which  the 
future  peace  and  welfare  of  the  country  depend,  such 
as  determining  the  status  of  the  freedman  and  ap 
plying  the  proper  punishment  to  traitors.  Differences 
of  opinion  will  arise  no  doubt,  and  various  policies  be 
strenuously  advocated.  We  want  action  that  will  at 
once  be  just,  wise,  generous  and  in  the  spirit  of  liberty, 
which  will  result  in  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest 
number  without  wronging  any. 

And  here,  though  the  matter  be  by  some  supposed 
difficult,  I  would  also  "  show  mine  opinion."  First, 
we  should  sincerely  implore  divine  guidance  and 
blessing,  and  weigh  the  whole  matter  seriously  and 
well,  and  be  particularly  careful  that  we  do  nothing, 
or  deny  nothing  either  upon  prejudice  or  partiality. 
Is  the  freed  negro  a  man  ?  Then  endow  him  at  once 
with  the  rights  and  privileges  and  responsilities  of  a 
man,  as  freely  and  fully  as  you  would  accord  the  same 
to  any  white  man  in  the  same  circumstances.  Do  you 
allow  ignorant  white  men  the  right  to  exercise  the 
elective  franchise  unconditionally?  Allow  the  ignorant 
black  man  the  same  exercise.  Do  you  limit  that 
privilege  to  those  whites  that  are  intelligent  and  can 
read?  Then  restrict  the  colored  man  upon  the  same 
principle.  Do  you  restrict  this  right,  denying  disloyal 
white  men  this  exercise  ?  Do  just  so  with  black  men. 


314  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

What  I  plead  for  is  simply  this,  that  no  invidious 
distinctions,  founded  on  prejudice  against  color,  shall 
disgrace  our  action,  or  dishonor  one  loyal  fellow 
creature  and  fellow  soldier  simply  because  he  is  black. 
And  as  I  speak  particularly  of  the  elective  franchise, 
BO,  did  space  allow,  would  I  speak  upon  every  mooted 
question  that  may  or  does  arise,  touching  the  status 
of  the  disenthralled  negro.  Let  us  in  this  matter 
prove  ourselves  possessed  of  the  moral  intelligence 
that  nobly  rises  above  all  the  dishonorable  relics  of 
that  barbarous  system  that  has  constituted  our  nation 
al  reproach  and  vexation  in  all  our  past  history,  and 
has  well  nigh  accomplished  our  overthrow  and  ruin 
of  late.  Now  since  Divine  Providence  has  furnished 
us  the  opportunity,  let  us  show  ourselves  equal  to  the 
trust,  by  a  noble,  magnanimous  recognition  and 
endorsement  of  all  the  rights  of  the  freed  millions 
among  us. 

Another  question  that  I  desire  to  present,  still 
remains.  Shall  treason  go  unpunished  and  rebels  stand 
without  rebuke  after  all  the  evil  they  have  devised 
and  the  mischief  they  have  wrought  ?  Here  again 
differences  of  opinion  exist.  Men  who  in  spirit  or 
in  fact  partook  of  or  sympathized  with  treason,  will 
naturally  plead  for  leniency  and  a  general  pardon. 
They  will  remonstrate  against  cruelty  and  shedding 
blood.  Why  did  they  not  remonstrate  when  rebels 
were  murdering  unarmed  men,  or  starving  and  abus 
ing  prisoners  of  war  ?  Why  did  they  not  shudder 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  315 

at  the  thought  of  shedding  blood  when  traitors  were 
inaugurating  this  most  sanguinary  and  inexcusable 
of  wars  ?  I  confess,  to  my  mind,  the  very  argument 
of  such  men  not  only  looks  suspicious,  but  breeds 
distrust.  Another  class  plead  for  tolerance  and  par 
don  to  subdued  rebels  upon  a  much  better  principle. 
Actuated  by  the  most  humane  sentiments,  and  sin 
cerely  desirous  for  conciliation  and  peace,  they  depre 
cate  the  possible  execution  of  the  guilty  criminal,  and 
I  respect  their  humanity  though  I  am  obliged  to 
disagree  with  them  as  to  the  method  of  kindness.  I 
would  be  distinctly  understood  as  pleading  that  noth 
ing  be  done  through  revenge  or  in  the  spirit  or  at  the 
dictate  of  retaliation,  but  solely  to  promote  the 
authority,  stability  and  influence  of  law,  and  thus 
advance  the  best  interests  of  all  the  people.  Treason 
is  a  crime  and  a  sin  against  all  the  people.  It  is  a 
violation  of  law,  which  is  the  safeguard  of  the  people. 
It  is  a  repudiation  of  the  authority  and  a  resistance  to 
the  duty  of  the  civil  magistrate,  who  is  the  guardian 
of  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people  under  the  law 
And  in  such  a  case  of  treason  as  this — when  the  plot 
has  been  laid  deep  and  long  and  the  conspirators,  by 
previous  perjury  and  crime,  were  prepared  utterly  to 
overthrow  all  government  that  the  people  had  or 
dained,  and  were  only  defeated  and  prevented  in  their 
wicked  designs  by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  after  a  struggle  of  years — to  pardon  indis 
criminately  is  to  destroy  the  authority  and  sanctity  of 
law. 


316  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

Had  this  rebellion  been  the  result  of  sudden  excite 
ment  and,  as  must  have  been  in  such  a  case,  of  short 
continuance,  without  time  for  men's  passions  to  cool 
and  without  opportunity  for  the  government  to  show 
that  it  did  not  intend  to  oppress  any  man  or  class  of 
men  who  complained,  it  were  vastly  different.  But 
such  is  not  the  case.  The  leaven  of  treason  has  been 
working  for  years.  The  government  has  by  many, 
as  I  believe,  unwarrantable  concessions  removed  all 
occasion  to  rebel,  but  all  in  vain,  and  now  for  such 
criminals  to  seek  pardon  or  for  persons  of  doubtful 
loyalty  to  plead  for  their  unconditional  forgiveness,  to 
me  appears  the  farthest  removed  from  that  brave, 
chivalrous  spirit  that,  having  risked  every  thing  upon 
the  appeal  to  the  sword,  only  shrinks  from  the  result 
when  it  is  overcome.  "What  would  be  the  temper  of 
those  men  had  they  triumphed,  had  they  their  hand 
now  upon  the  throat  of  the  nation  as  they  have  desired 
and  vainly  sought  to  have  ?  I  repeat,  while  I  would 
do  nothing  out  of  retaliation  or  malice,  I  insist  that 
we  must  maintain  the  authority  and  sanctity  of  law, 
or  we  shall  leave  the  interests  of  the  loyal  and  true 
citizen  insecure.  Treason  is  the  highest  crime  against 
the  state.  Upon  the  power,  authority  and  purity  of 
the  state  depend  the  peace,  safety  and  rights  of  the 
people.  Slightly  to  pass  over  the  most  flagrant  treason 
or,  indiscriminately  to  pardon  rebels,  is  to  weaken  if 
not  destroy  the  influence,  authority  and  power  of  the 
state.  And  such  a  course  is  itself  a  betrayal  of  every 
interest  committed  by  the  people  to  the  state. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  317 

I  do  not  advocate  indiscriminate  punishment. 
This,  too,  were  not  only  improper,  it  would  be  radi 
cally  unjust,  for  many,  if  not  most  of  the  rebels,  are 
but  the  dupes  and  creatures  of  the  master  spirits  of 
the  occasion.  But  I  will  say  that,  in  my  judgment, 
those  men  who  conceived  and  adopted  this  scheme, 
and  plotted  to  plunder  that  they  might  destroy  the 
nation,  who  have  accepted  place  and  power  to  injure 
us,  and  especially  those  who  perjured  their  souls,  more 
effectually  to  work  our  ruin,  the  officers,  the  master 
minds,  ought  to  suffer  the  j  ust  penalty  of  their  great  sin. 
Something  must  be  done  for  justice,  and  something 
that  shall  forever  deter  men  from  pursuing  a  similar 
course,  or  we  shall  cheapen  crime,  and  unsettle  the 
fundamental  principles  of  society,  and  destroy  the 
foundations  of  government.  What  we  may  call  mercy 
and  magnanimity  to  the  guilty,  may  be  the  cause  of 
ruin  to  the  loyal  and  innocent  among  us.  I  pray  God 
to  bless  Andrew  Johnson,  and  the  cabinet,  and  all  the 
people,  and  especially  the  emancipated  slaves,  and 
give  to  all,  wisdom  to  devise  and  power  to  execute  for 
his  glory,  and  our  prosperity  and  peace. 


318  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

SUBSTANCE  OF  A  DISCOURSE  PREACHED  IN  THE  UNITED 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

BY    REV.    HUGH    P.    MC  ADAM. 

Neither  ivill  I  be  with  you  any  more,   except  ye  destroy  the  accursed  from 
among  you. — JOSHUA,  vii,  12. 

The  history  of  this  nation,  in  the  present  crisis,  is 
in  many  features,  the  history  of  the  Jewish  nation 
repeating  itself.  There  are  many  circumstances  in 
our  national  experiences,  corresponding  with  theirs. 
In  our  success  we  find  a  counterpart  to  their  prosperi 
ty,  in  our  reverses  we  discover  a  likeness  to  their 
calamities.  In  whatever  circumstances  we  may  be 
placed  as  a  nation,  we  may  look  into  the  glass  of  God's 
word  and  see  ourselves  reflected.  In  every  possible 
condition,  we  may  find  some  portion  of  that  word 
suited  to  our  case,  and  containing  a  lesson,  a  warning, 
or  a  promise  from  which  we  can  draw  consolation  or 
derive  instruction.  For  the  purpose  of  obtaining  this 
consolation  and  instruction  we  have  selected  for  con 
sideration  the  portion  of  sacred  history,  embracing  a 
record  of  God's  dealings  with  Joshua  and  the  children 
of  Israel. 

We  propose  to  notice  the  similarity  between  some 
points  in  the  history  of  the  Israelites,  and  some  cir 
cumstances  in  connection  with  our  own  national 
experience:  also  to  present  some  of  the  lessons  of 
instruction  which  these  events  are  designed  to  teach. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  319 

The  "  accursed  "  was  that  which  God  had  devoted  to 
destruction.  Of  the  spoils  which  should  be  taken  from 
the  enemy,  God  commanded  Joshua  and  the  children 
of  Israel  to  destroy  everything  save  the  silver  and 
gold  and  vessels  of  brass  and  iron,  which  were  de 
clared  to  be  consecrated  to  the  Lord.  To  be  guilty 
of  trespass  in  the  "  accursed  thing"  was  to  appropri 
ate  these  spoils  to  some  other  purpose  than  that  which 
God  had  commanded. 

As  long  as  the  Israelites  obeyed  the  command  of 
God  they  were  victorious,  every  effort  was  crowned 
with  success.  But  when  they  disobeyed  His  command, 
nothing  but  defeat  and  disaster  awaited  them.  In 
obedience  to  His  instructions,  they  make  an  assault 
upon  the  city  of  Jericho,  and  the  walls  of  the  city 
totter  and  crumble  before  them.  When  they  make  a 
subsequent  assault  upon  Ai,  they  meet  with  overwhelm 
ing  and  serious  defeat.  This  calamity  was  unexpected. 
The  God  of  battles  who  before  had  fought  for  them 
and  given  them  the  victory,  was  now  turned  against 
them.  In  view  of  this  catastrophe,  the  hearts  of  the 
people  sunk  within  them,  and  they  betook  themselves 
to  mourning  and  humiliation.  "  Wherefore  the  hearts 
of  the  people  melted  and  became  as  water.  And 
Joshua  rent  his  clothes,  and  fell  to  the  earth  upon 
his  face  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  until  the  eventide, 
he  and  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  put  dust  upon  their 
heads."  In  their  emergency  they  humble  themselves 

before  God,  and  inquire  why  it  is  He  has  thus  frowned 
41 


320  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

upon  them,  why  it  is  He  has  thus  turned   to  be  their 
enemy,  and  suffered  their  adversaries  to  destroy  them. 
God  tells  them  why  it  is,   they  had  been    guilty   of 
disobeying  His  command,  they  had  sinned,  they  had 
u  committed  a  trespass  in  the  accursed  thing,"  and  He 
would  not  be  with  them  again,  until  they  should  put 
away  the  "  accursed"  from  among  them.     On  investi 
gation,   they  discover  that  Achau  has  been  guilty  of 
transgression  in  appropriating  a  portion  of  the  spoils 
from  Jericho  to  his  own  use,  instead  of  giving  them 
into  the  Lord's   treasury.     As  a  punishment  for  this 
transgression,   they  took  Achan  and  all  that  he  had, 
his  possessions  and  family,  and  "all  Israel  stoned  him 
with  stones,  and  burned  them  with  fire  after  they  had 
stoned  them  with  stones.     So  the  lord  turned  from 
the  fierceness  of  his  anger."     While  the  "  accursed  " 
was  among  them,  God  would  not  bless  them.    Until 
they  would  put  away  the    transgressor,  and  cast  out 
the  guilty  from  among  them   God  would  visit  them 
with  judgment.     Bat  no  sooner  had  they  put  away 
the  transgressor,  and  purified  themselves  from  their 
guilt,   and   destroyed  the   "  accursed  thing"  and  the 
accursed  from  among  them,  than  God  smiled  upon 
them,  dispelled  the   clouds  that  were  frowning   over 
them,  and  removed  his  judgments  that  pressed  them 
so  heavily.     Then  their  defeats  were  converted  into 
victories,  their  reverses  into  successes,   and  their  dis 
asters  into  blessings. 

O 

In  obedience  to  the  call  of  the  chief  executive  of  the 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  321 

nation,  we  are  assembled  here  today,  to  bow  ourselves 

reverently  and  with  humility  before  God,  owning 
our  dependence  upon  Him,  confessing  our  sins,  and 
acknowledging  His  justice  and  righteousness  in  this 
adverse  dispensation  of  His  providence  sent  upon  us. 
While  we  were  exulting  in  victory,  and  rejoicing  in 
the  triumph  of  our  arms,  while  we  were  with  interest 
and  anxiety,  looking  forward  to  the  speedy  restoration 
of  our  beloved  land  to  peace  and  renewed  prosperity, 
oar  joy  is  suddenly  changed  to  sorrow,  our  day  of  na 
tional  rejoicing  is  converted  into  a  night  of  mourning. 
Before  the  period  had  arrived  which  had  been  set 
apart  as  the  occasion  for  the  public  expression  of  our 
gratitude  and  thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God  for  the 
success  of  our  cause,  it  became  necessary  to  revoke  the 
appointment,  and  to  designate  a  day  for  the  purpose 
of  humiliation  and  prayer,  because  of  national  calam 
ity  and  bereavement.  "We  are  assembled  to  mourn 
the  loss  of  the  nation  in  the  removal  of  our  chief 
magistrate.  The  national  head  has  been  taken  away. 
Our  beloved  president  has  been  stricken  down  by  the 
hand  of  an  assassin.  Those  who  in  their  deep 
depravity,  hate  and  maliciousness  murdered  him, 
destroyed  the  head  and  wounded  the  heart  of  the 
nation.  The  country  mourns  his  loss  as  that  of  a 
father  and  protector,  for  under  God  he  loved  the 
country  and  preserved  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 

We   pronounce  no  eulogy  over  Abraham  Lincoln. 
He  has  built  his  own  monument,  has  written  his  own 


322  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

eulogy  on  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  Of  the  many 
virtues,  the  amiable  disposition,  the  manly  traits  of 
character  and  the  administrative  abilities  of  our 
lamented  President,  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak.  The 
results  of  his  labors  will  live  in  the  heart  and  history 
of  the  country.  His  unqualified  honesty  and  integri 
ty,  his  largeness  of  heart  and  amiability  have  endeared 
him  to  the  people.  Even  those  who  opposed  his 
policy,  are  constrained  to  admit  and  admire  his  honesty, 
uprightness  and  sincerity.  He  is  dead,  not  from  natu 
ral  causes,  but  murdered,  shot  dowrn  by  the  bullet  of 
the  fiendish  assassin.  That  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  choice  of  the  people,  raised  to  his  high 
position  by  their  act  and  authority,  should  be  assassi 
nated  is  something  new  in  the  history  of  our  country, 
and  the  tragedy  has  been  reserved  for  the  cultivation 
and  the  civil  and  religious  advancement  of  the  latter 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  event  has 
humbled  us  in  our  own  eyes,  it  has  humbled  us  before 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  Let  it  this  day  humble  us 
before  God,  that  the  sins  of  this  nation  have  merited 
and  provoked  a  judgment  so  terrible.  That  our 
country  is  the  abode  of  such  depraved  beings  as  were 
these  conspirators, —  beings  made  in  the  likeness  of 
men  — that  it  has  been  the  scene  of  such  a  tragedy,  is  an 
evidence  of  its  awful  wickedness.  That  we  have  those 
in  the  midst  of  us  capable  of  perpetrating  such  awful 
crime,  and  prepared  for  such  fiendish  murder  and 
butchery,  should  prostrate  this  nation  before  the  God  of 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  393 

vengeance,"  should  lead  it  to  implore  his  pardon,  lest 
he  utterly  destroy  us  from  the  face  of  the^earth,  as  he 
did  the  wicked  nations  of  old.  They  sinned  in  the 
darkness  of  heathenism,  we  in  the  light  of  God's  word 
and  truth.  It  was  fit  and  proper/or  the  President  to 
set  apart  this  day  as  a  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer. 
Let  us  bow  before  God,  and  confess  that  we  have 
committed  national  sin,  that  we  have  provoked  this 
national  calamity.  Let  us  bow  submissively  to  his 
will,  and  say,  "  the  Lord  is  just  in  all  the  evil  he  hath 
sent  upon  us." 

It  is  our  duty  to-day  to  learn  the  lessons  of  God's 
providence,  to  enquire  why  it  is  the  Lord  is  thus 
afflicting  us,  to^search  out  "the  accursed"  from  among 
us  and  put  it  away,  for  He  has  said  that  unless  we 
destroy  it  from  among  us,  He  will  not  be  with  us  any 
more.  It  is  our  duty  to  bow  before  God  as  individuals, 
and  confess  our  sins  in  His  sight,  "  that  He  may  turn 
from  His  fierce  anger,  that  we  perish  not ;"  saying  in 
the  language  of  David,  "  I  acknowledge  my  transgres 
sions,  and  my  sin  is  ever  before  me.  Against  Thee, 
Thee  only  have  I  sinned,  and  done  this  evil  in  Thy 
sight ;  that  thou  mightest  be  justified  when  thou 
speakest.  and  clear  when  thou  judgest." 

We  must  accept  this  calamity  as  sent  of  God.  He 
who  sits  in  heaven  and  rules  on  earth,  has  ordered 
and  permitted  it,  for  some  good  purpose.  It  is  one  of 
the  movements  of  the  Almighty,  in  His  great  plan  of 
providence,  in  working  out  the  destiny  of  this  nation. 


324  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

We  shall  notice  briefly  some  of  the  lessons  clearly 
taught  in  this  afflictive  dispensation.  When  the  heart 
of  an  individual  is  softened,  broken  under  sorrow,  that 
heart  is  more  easily  touched,  impressed  and  influenced, 
than  at  other  times.  So  it  is  with  a  nation  when 
wounded  and  bleeding.  And  God  designs  to  impress 
certain  solemn  lessons  upon  the  heart  of  this  nation. 
By  this  event  He  designs  to  turn  us  from  our  sins  and 
draw  us  more  closely  to  himself.  I  have  frequently 
seen  the  statement  in  our  papers  and  have  often  heard 
it  remarked,  that  Lincoln  was  the  idol  of  the  people. 
I  fear  the  declaration  was  founded  in  truth.  The 
people  of  this  country  are  inclined  to  hero-worship. 
There  is  a  tendency  in  the  human  heart,  to  exalt  the 
creature  to  the  throne  of  the  Creator,  and  render  him 
that  homage  which  is  alone  due  to  God.  It  may  be 
on  this  account  our  President  has  been  taken  from  us. 
God  is  a  "jealous  God,"  and  will  not  suffer  the  honor 
and  the  Horv  that  are  clue  to  himself  to  be  ascribed  to 

o         «/ 

any  creature.  When  a  people  or  an  individual  sets  up 
such  an  idol,  and  renders  that  idol  homage,  God  will 
punish  such  idolatry.  We  were  disposed  to  feel,  and 
say,  that  our  President  had  proposed  and  disposed; 
that  he  by  his  wisdom  and  foresight,  had  planned  our 
campaigns  and  directed  our  forces  to  victory.  We 
extolled  Lincoln's  "  immortal  Emancipation  Procla 
mation  ;"  we  said  of  him,  that  he  had  proclaimed 
"  liberty  to  the  captives  and  the  opening  of  the  prison 
to  them  that  are  bound,"  forgetting  God,  who  was 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  325 

controlling  and  directing  all  these  results.  We  looked 
to  his  experience  and  wisdom  to  conduct  the  war  to  a 
successful  and  honorable  termination,  and  to  guide  us 
to  a  happy  and  permanent  peace.  We  expected  his 
wisdom  and  sagacity  to  settle  the  remaining  difficult 
questions  of  restoration  and  reconstruction.  God  is 
saying  to  us  by  this  dispensation,  that  the  work  is  not 
man's  but  God's,  and  is  teaching  this  nation  not  to  trust 
in  an  arm  of  flesh,  nor  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in 
Him.  He  brings  to  the  helm  of  the  ship  of  state  one 
without  executive  national  experience,  through  whose 
instrumentality  He  will  accomplish  His  work. 

I  believe  that  God  designed  also,  by  this  dispensa 
tion,  to  teach  us  not  to  invade  the  sanctity  of  the 
sabbath.  He  has  frequently  taught  us,  in  our  own  bitter 
experience,  that  we  cannot  violate  and  desecrate  His 
Holy  day  with  impunity.  This  war  has  taught  us,  on 
many  a  battle  field,  that  God  will  not  succeed  that 
army,  that  disregards  the  claims  of  the  sabbath.  This 
seems  to  be  a  lesson  of  the  same  import  —  a  judgment 
sent,  because  we  as  a  people  had  been  guilty  of  disre 
garding  the  claims  of  the  sabbath.  When  the  news 
of  the  victory  of  our  arms  over  the  confederate  forces 
and  of  the  surrender  of  Lee's  army,  flashed  along  our 
telegraph  wires  on  that  sabbath  evening,  what  wras 
the  conduct  of  our  citizens?  We  know  what  the  pro 
ceedings  were  here,  and  saw  from  the  journals  of  the 
country  that  the  same  demonstrations  were  witnessed 
in  other  sections  of  the  Union.  Notwithstanding  it 


326  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

was  the  holy  sabbath  when  the  news  reached  us, 
the  people  became  intoxicated  with  excitement,  and, 
in  their  uncontrolled  enthusiasm,  proceeded  to  such 
lengths  in  their  rejoicings  as  ill  became  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  day  which  God  has  set  apart  as  a  day 
of  rest,  to  be  kept  holy  unto  Himself.  Appro 
priate  as  such  proceedings  might  have  been  at 
another  time,  they  were  a  shameful  desecration  of 
the  Lord's  day.  When  I  heard  these  demonstrations 
and  remembered  that  it  was  the  sabbath,  and  re 
flected  that  God  is  a  God  of  justice  as  well  as  a 
God  of  compassion,  I  trembled  for  the  consequences. 
I  felt  that  there  was  yet  in  store  for  us,  a  more 
dreadful  retribution,  a  more  awful  judgment.  God 
will  not  suffer  the  sins  of  a  people  to  go  unpunished, 
he  will  not  suffer  us  in  our  rejoicings  over  victory, 
willfully  to  profane  his  day,  or  violate  his  law  and 
command. 

Another  design  in  this  judgment  —  a  lesson  plainly 
taught — is  to  show  the  enormity  of  the  crime  of  slavery, 
the  wicked  spirit  it  excites  and  fosters  in  the  hearts  of 
its  abettors,  and  God's  detestation  of  the  system  and 
the  men  who  have  endeavored  to  uphold  and  pro 
pagate  it  by  the  instigation  of  rebellion.  That  God 
brought  about  this  war  and  directed  it  so  as  to  destroy 
the  system  of  slavery,  the  logic  of  events  has  con 
vinced  the  most  sceptical.  In  this  matter,  the  lead 
ings  of  this  providence  are  unmistakable.  But  how 
does  God  teach  his  abhorrence  of  this  system  by  suffer- 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  327 

ing  its  greatest  antagonist,  the  champion  of  human 
rights  and  liberty  to  be  cut  off?  He  evinces  His  de 
testation,  by  showing  that  the  spirit  that  supported 
and  upheld  slavery,  prompted  the  assassin  to  murder 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

God  designs  also,  by  this  event,  to  measure  out  the 
punishment  due  to  traitors,  a  severer  punishment 
than  they  would  have  received  had  our  president  been 
spared.  Lincoln  was  compassionate  and  merciful, 
and  would  doubtless  have  been  disposed  to  pardon,  or 
to  mitigate  the  punishment  of  those  who  have  been  in 
rebellion  against  our  government.  God  is  a  God  of 
justice.  To  extend  mercy  to  those  who  have  been 
guiltj^  of  instigating  and  carrying  on  this  bloody  and 
cruel  rebellion,  would  be  to  sacrifice  the  justice  of 
God.  The  justice  of  God  will  not  be  satisfied  if  the 
leaders  in  this  rebellion  escape  unpunished.  He 
would  not  be  with  Joshua  and  the  children  of  Israel, 
unless  they  should  mete  out  justice  to  the  guilty; 
neither  will  he  be  with  us  until  we  destroy  the  ac 
cursed  from  among  us.  The  man  who  deliberately 
murders  his  fellow  man,  forfeits  his  life  under  the 
law  of  God,  and  the  law  of  the  country.  There  is 
something  inherently  criminal  in  murder  that  cannot 
be  expiated  save  by  the  blood  of  the  murderer. 
"The  land  cannot  be  cleansed  from  blood,  but  by  the 
blood  of  him  that  shed  it."  So  may  God  have  or 
dained  that  our  land  shall  not  be  cleansed  from  the 

blood  of  this  war,  except  by  the  life  and  blood  of 

42 


328  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

those  who  instituted  and  supported  this  war.  Mercy 
to  traitors  would  be  injustice  to  the  nation  :  it  would 
be  cruelty  to  humanity,  and  w^ould  grant  a  license  for 
murder  and  rebellion  in  all  time  to  come.  That  jus 
tice  may  be  meted  out  to  those  who  are  deserving  of 
punishment,  God  has  placed  at  our  head,  a  man  of 
sterner  nature — one  who  will  be  disposed  to  bring 
them,  to  condign  punishment,  and  suffer  the  law  to 
visit  the  crime  of  treason  with  its  unmitigated  penalty 
—  one  who  has  been  made  to  feel  the  severity  of 
rebel  barbarity,  and  will  be  the  better  qualified  to 
determine,  when  punishment  is  commensurate  with. 
crime.  That  is  a  morbid  sentiment,  existing  in  so- 
siety,  which  transfers  our  sympathies  from  the  mur 
dered  to  the  criminal,  and  demands  that  mercy  be 
extended  to  him,  and  that  justice  be  not  vindicated. 
Such  a  sentiment  our  better  judgment  will  not  ap 
prove,  and  God  in  his  word,  and  now  by  his  special 
providence,  seems  clearly  to  condemn  it. 

In  conclusion,  let  us  learn  this  lesson,  that  men  may 
pass  away,  but  principle  and  truth  will  never  decay. 
The  enemies  of  truth  and  of  free  government  may 
murder  the  defenders  of  truth  and  the  supporters  of 
free  government,  but  the  principles  still  live.  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  is  dead,  but,  God  be  praised,  the  govern 
ment  is  not  dead !  Our  country  and  the  Union  sur-. 
vive.  He  was  raised  up  for  a  special  purpose,  his 
work  is  finished,  and  he  has  been  taken  to  his  ac 
count.  He  was  a  martyr  to  liberty,  to  truth,  and  free 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  329 

government.  For  the  defence  of  these  he  devoted 
the  energy  of  his  life.  Upon  the  altar  of  his  country 
he  yielded  that  life  a  sacrifice.  The  enemies  of  our 
nation  may  plot  its  overthrow,  they  may  conspire  to 
hinder  the  progress  of  truth,  justice,  and  right,  but 
all  their  schemes  will  be  rendered  futile  by  the  God 
of  heaven,  and  instead  of  being  weakened  by  their 
opposition,  the  nation  will  be  made  stronger.  God  will 
raise  up  other  defenders,  who  will  support,  maintain, 
andperpetuate  it,  until  every  nation  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth  will  have  guaranteed  and  secured  to  it,  a  free 
government,  and  every  individual  of  which  such  gov 
ernment  is  composed,  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  "  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

' '  Truth  crushed  to  earth  shall  rise  again  : 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers ; 
But  Error,  wounded,  writhes  with  pain, 
And  dies  among  his  worshippers." 


OTHER  SERVICES. 

At  the  First  Baptist  church,  the  pastor,  Rev.  Dr. 
George  C.  Baldwin,  preached  a  sermon  from  these 
words,  "  The  just  Lord  is  in  the  midst  thereof,"  taken 
from  the  fifth  verse  of  the  third  chapter  of  Zephaniah. 
The  subject  of  his  discourse  was  "  God's  law  of  retri 
bution  as  illustrated  in  our  late  national  history." 
"  He  pictured  the  barbarities  of  slavery,  and  showed 
how  the  south,  in  trying  to  secure  the  perpetuation  of 


330  [LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

the  peculiar  institution,  had  met  with  its  own  downfall. 
He  argued  that  a  measure  of  punishment  should  be 
meted  out  to  rebels,  and  that  retributive  justice  should 
be  poured  forth.  Punishment,  he  claimed,  was  not 
designed  to  reform  the  guilty,  but  was  in  the  light  of 
a  penalty  for  misdeeds — else  the  devils,  having  been 
so  long  punished,  would  have  expiated  their  sins  and 
been  released.  He  was  for  the  exercise  of  the  strong 
hand  in  the  south  for  a  long  time  to  come." 

The  solemn  service  set  forth  by  Bishop  Horatio 
Potter,  was  held  at  St.  John's  church,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Henry  C.  Potter  rector ;  at  Christ  church,  the  Rev. 
J.  K  Mulford,  rector ;  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  I.  Tucker,  rector  ;  and  at  St. 
Paul's  church,  where  also  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  W. 
Coit  the  rector,  preached  a  sermon  for  the  occasion 
which  appears  on  some  of  the  previous  pages  of  this 
work. 

At  the  Jewish  synagogues  the  day  was  solemnized 
by  appropriate  religious  observances. 

The  address  of  Charlton  T.  Lewis,  Esq.,  late  a 
professor  in  the  Troy  University,  which  is  printed  in 
this  volume,  was  pronounced  at  the  State  Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  the  service  of  worship 
being  conducted  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Erastus 
"Wentworth.  The  congregation  of  the  North  Second 
Street  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
"Wesley  Carhart,  pastor,  united  with  the  State  Street 
church  on  this  occasion. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  331 

A  conference  meeting  was  held  at  the  First  Presby 
terian  church,  the  Rev.  Marvin  R.  Vincent,  pastor- 
At  the  Second  Presbyterian  church  an  address  was 
delivered  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  D.  S.  Gregory.  The 
Rev.  Duncan  Kennedy  D.D.,  pastor,  of  the  Second 
Street  Presbyterian  church,  preached  a  discourse 
based  on  passages  taken  from  the  sixtieth  and  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty-sixth  psalrns,  in  which  he 
reviewed  the  history  of  the  four  years  of  civil  war,  from 
which  the  nation  had  just  emerged  ;  portrayed  the  ter 
rible  character  of  the  spirit  of  treason  which  produced 
it;  and  enforced  various  lessons  of  instruction  and 
duty,  which,  by  means  of  this  baptism  of  blood,  the 
providence  of  God  seemed  to  inculcate.  At  the  Park 
Presbyterian  church,  the  Rev.  D.  S.  Johnson  of  Waver- 
ly,  New  York,  preached  a  sermon  from  the  sentence, 
"  The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed"  taken  from  the 
seventh  verse  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Proverbs. 
Among  the  many  reasons  which  he  gave  for  the  bless 
ed  remembrance  in  which  the  late  President  is  held, 
were  his  ability  as  a  statesman,  his  right  deeds  always 
performed  at  the  right  time,  his  integrity  which  led 
him  to  think  only  of  his  country  and  his  duty  even 
when  he  had  an  army  at  his  command  and  might 
have  been  a  dictator,  his  benevolence,  his  humility 
illustrated  by  his  partiality  for  the  poem  beginning 
"  Oh  !  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud?"  and 
more  especially  his  constant  trust  in  Divine  providence. 
The  speaker  said  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Christian 


332  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

church  to  sustain  the  government  in  its  great  labor 
of  restoring  peace  and  harmony ;  and  that  as  Presi 
dent  Lincoln's  success  was  eminently  due  to  his 
constantly  having  the  prayers  of  the  churches  with 
him,  President  Johnson  should  also  be  accorded  the 
benefit  of  the  same  appeals  to  the  source  whence  all 
blessings  now.  The  services  at  the  United  Presby 
terian  church  were  conducted  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Hugh  P.  McAdam,  who  also  preached  the  sermon,  a 
synopsis  of  which  precedes  this  account.  The  Rev. 
Joseph  A.  Prime,  pastor  of  the  Liberty  Street  Presby 
terian  church  (colored),  read  the  thirty- seventh  psalm 
and  commented  on  the  topics  thereby  suggested. 

At  the  Roman  Catholic  churches,  namely,  St. 
Peter's  church,  the  Rev.  James  Keveny,  pastor; 
St.  Mary's  church,  the  Rev.  Peter  Havermans,  pastor; 
and  St.  Joseph's  church,  the  Rev.  Aug.  J.  Thebaud, 
pastor,  services  were  held  similar  to  those  that  ob 
tained  on  Easter  Sunday  and  on  the  nineteenth  of 
April  during  the  obsequies  of  the  late  President  at 
Washington. 

The  Rev.  Edgar  Buckingham,  pastor  of  the  Uni 
tarian  church,  read  passages  from  the  Scriptures 
suited  to  the  character  of  the  day  and  offered  appro 
priate  prayers. 

The  daily  Union  prayer  meeting  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Troy  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  was 
conducted  at  their  rooms  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  C. 
Baldwin,  with  especial  reference  to  the  solemnities  of 
the  occasion. 


LINCOLN  MEMORIAL.  333 

Religious  services,  similar  in  their  nature  to  those 
already  described,  were  held  in  the  other  places  of 
worship  in  the  city. 

At  the  regular  meeting  of  the  Common  Council, 
appointed  to  be  held  on  the  evening  of  this  day,  the 
following  proceedings  were  had. 


COMMON  COUNCIL  PROCEEDINGS. 

REGULAR  MEETING. 

Wednesday  Evening,  June  1,  1865. 

Members  Present  —  Hon.  Uri  Gilbert,  Mayor;  Hon. 
John  Moran,  Recorder,  and  Aldermen  Cox,  Fales, 
Fleming,  Hay,  Hislop,  Haight,  Harrity,  Kemp,  Mc- 
Manus,  Morris,  Norton,  Stanton,  Stannard,  Starbuck. 

The  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were  approved  as 
printed. 

The  Recorder  moved,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the 
day  of  National  Fasting,  Humiliation  and  Prayer, 
appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  that 
this  board  do  now  adjourn  until  Friday  evening,  June 
2,  1865,  at  8  o'clock. 

Carried,  and  the  board  adjourned. 

JAMES  S.  THORN,  City  Clerk. 

As  on  the  day  of  the  President's  death  and  the 
days  of  the  obsequies  at  "Washington  and  at  Albany, 
so  on  this  day,  places  of  business  and  of  amusement, 
public  offices  and  the  public  schools  were  closed,  and 


334  LINCOLN  MEMORIAL. 

men  ceased  from  labor  as  well  as  from  traffic.  The 
publication  of  the  daily  papers  was  also  suspended. 
The  occasion  was  a  final  public  testimonial  of  the  sor 
row  of  the  nation  on  account  of  its  great  and  irrepara 
ble  bereavement.  The  men  of  this  generation  will 
pass  away  to  be  succeeded  by  a  generation,  who,  as 
children,  wondered  at  the  sad  faces  and  the  solemn 
deportment  of  their  fathers  and  mothers  during  this 
long  season  of  mourning.  But  to  these  children  will 
be  taught  the  story  of  this  nation's  long  and  desperate 
struggle  for  Union  and  the  rights  of  man  :  and  when, 
as  men  they  come  to  appreciate  the  noble  character 
of  the  patriot-President  who  with  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  patriot-soldiers,  died  for  his  country,  the 
wonder  of  infancy  will  become  the  admiration  and 
veneration  of  manhood  for  the  noblest,  gentlest,  hum 
blest,  purest  and  dearest  name  in  American  history 
—  the  name  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


INDEX. 


Abraham  Lincoln:  a  poem,  27, 
28;  an  article,  169-175. 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
church,  sermon  preached  in  the, 
43-47. 

Ainsworth,  Col.  Ira,  247. 

Albany,  invitation  from  the  com 
mon  council  of,  177 ;  invitation 
from  the  Young  Men's  Asso 
ciation  of,  243 ;  obsequies  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  at,  245  -  254 ; 
Burgesses  corps,  251 ;  Institute, 
251  •  Turner  Verein,  252. 

Alexander  of  Russia  referred  to, 
287,  288. 

Allen,  Brig.  Gen.  Darius,  order 
of,  100,  fOl ;  247. 

Almighty  Lord,before  thy  throne : 
a  hymn,  9. 

Anecdote  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
204-206. 

Anshe  Chesed,  Jewish  Syna 
gogue,  99 ;  service  at  the,  157  - 
160. 

Armsby,  Asst.  Surgeon  James  H., 
247. 

Assassination  of  President  Lin 
coln,  effect  of -the  news  of  the, 
on  the  community,  vii-xi ;  ef 
fect  of  the  news  of,  in  Troy,  1, 
2,  7-  9  ;  articles  on  the,  2,  3,  20 
-22,88-90. 

Atlantic  Monthly,  extract  from 
the,  144,  145. 

Baermann,  Prof.  P.  H.,  citizens' 
meeting  addressed  by,  30 ;  reso 
lutions  by,  102,  103 ;  notice  of 
speech  by,  238. 

Baker,  Col.  A.  S.,  247. 

Baker,  Col.  B.  F.,  246. 

Baldwin,  Rev.  George  C.,  D.D., 
remarks  by,  79,  160,  161 ;  no 
tice  of  sermon  of,  329,  330; 
service  conducted  by,  332. 

Baldwin,  George  C.,  jr.,  243. 

43 


Baltimore,  obsequies  at,  x;  re 
ferred  to,  xix. 

Banker,  T.  S.,  clerk  of  board  of 
supervisors,  168. 

Baptist  churches.  Service  at  the 
First  Baptist  church,  79,  160, 
161,  329,  330.  Service  at  the 
North  Baptist  church,  19,79, 80 ; 
discourse  at  the  North  Baptist 
church,  104-116. 

Barrere,  account  given  by,  294. 

Barringer,  AY.  N.,  citizens'  meet 
ing  addressed  by,  30;  resolu 
tions  by,  30,  31. 

Barren,  John,  chief  of  police, 
thanks  to,  253. 

Beach,  Col.  George,  247. 

Beardsley,  Maj.  W.  C.,  246. 

Beaverwyck  club,  251. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  his  address 
at  Exeter  hall  referred  to,  xxiii. 

Benson,  Benj.  D.,  243  ;  on  com 
mittee  to  draft  resolutions,  254. 

Bentley,  Col.  R.  C.,  246. 

Berger,  Lieut.  Albert  E.,  248. 

Betimst  society,  251. 

Black  Hawk  war,  Lincoln  a  cap 
tain  in  the,  119,  140. 

Board  of  supervisors  of  Rensse- 
laer  county,  resolutions  of  the, 
166-168. 

Booth,  J.  Wilkes,  the  assassin  of 
President  Lincoln,  xxv,  282. 

Bradford,  speech  of  member  of 
parliament  from,  xxxv-  xl. 

Brintnall,  Lieut.  Col.  Charles  E., 
249. 

Brother  band,  251. 

Brown,  Rev.  S.  D.,  sketch  of  a 
sermon  by,  36  -  42. 

Brown,  John,  referred  to,  47. 

Brownell,  Edwin,  motion  of,  4. 

Bryant,  William  C.,  extract  from 
"  The  Battle-field,"  a  poem  by, 
329. 


336 


INDEX. 


Buckingham,    Rev.    Edgar,    ser 
mons'  by,    66-78,     229-237; 
service  conducted  by,  332. 
Buffalo,  obsequies  at,  x. 
Bul]is,  Lieut.  Wallace  F.,  248. 
Burdick,  Julia  Adelaide,  an  arti 
cle  by,  169-175. 
Burlington,   N.   J.,    Gen.    Grant 

visits,  xxvi,  2. 

Burns,  Robert,  referred  to,  68. 
Bussey,  T.  Henry,  recording  sec 
retary    of  Troy  Young   Men's 
association,  243. 
Caesar,  Julius,  referred    to,    72, 

264. 

Calder,  Capt.  William  F.,  248. 
Cambridge,  university  of,  viii. 
Camp,  Nathan  H.,  assistant  sur 
geon,  248. 

Capo  d'lstria  referred  to,  xii. 
Carhart,   Rev.   J.   Wesley,   D.D., 

sermon  by,  116-127;  330. 
Carv,  Lieut.  John  M.,  248. 
Gary,  Lieut,  Sidney  T.,  248. 
Cavour  referred  to,  xv. 
Charles  I  referred  to,  72. 
Chesterfield,  Lord,  referred  to,  xv. 
Chicago,  obsequies  at,  x ;  Repub- 
publican   national    convention 
at,  119. 
Christ  church,  service  at,  80,  81, 

330. 
Church,  Quartermaster  Henry  S., 

order  to,  178  ;  248. 
Church,     Col.    Walter    S.,    250; 

thanks  to,  253. 
Cicero    and    Lincoln    compared, 

260  -  265. 
Citizens'  meeting,  account  of  the, 

30,31. 

City  philanthropic  grove,  251. 
Clark,  E.  H.  G.,  a  poem  by,  168, 

169. 

Cleveland,  obsequies  at,  x. 
Clexton,  S.  II.,  citizens'  meeting 

addressed  by,  30. 

Coit,    Rev.    Thomas    W.,   D.D., 
discourse  by,  268  -  279  ;  service 
conducted  by,  330. 
Colby,  John  EL,  district  attorney, 

4. 

Columbus,  obsequies  at,  x. 
Common  Council  of  Albany,  in 
vitation  from  the,  177, 240. 
Concordia  society,  meeting  of  the, 
237,  238. 


Common  Council  of  Troy,  pro 
ceedings  of  the,  93  -  96,  240,  241, 
333  ;  request  of  a  committee  of 
the,  97,  98  ;  249,  251. 

Connors,  Lieut.  Patrick,  248. 

Cooper,  Maj.  Gen.  John  Tayler, 
information  from,  100  ;  247,  250. 

Corday,  Charlotte,  referred  to,  72. 

Court,  proceedings  in  the  Rensse- 
laer  county,  4,  5 ;  in  the  police, 
5,  6. 

Court  house  in  Troy,  dress  parade 
in  front  of,  252. 

Cox,  Alderman  William,  reso 
lutions  by,  30,  31  ;  93,  240,  333. 

Cramer,  Lieut.  Le  Grand,  248. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  referred  to,  xv. 

Cumberland,  sinking  of  the,  294. 

Curran,  Lieut,  James  E.,  248  ; 
commands  battery,  249. 

Cusack,  Capt.  James  W.,  248. 

Cuyler,  J.  C.,  note  from,  177. 

Daniels,  Lieut.  William  A.,  248. 

Davenport,  Charles  E.,  secretary 
of  citizens'  meeting,  30,  31. 

Davenport,  Nelson,  resolutions 
by,  30,  31. 

Death  of  President  Lincoln,  The  : 
a  poem,  92,  93. 

Decline  of  amusements :  an  arti 
cle,  255,  256. 

De  Forrest,  Col.  J.  J.,  246. 

Dickson,  Rev.  Alexander,  notice 
of  sermons  by,  83. 

Dirge  for  Wednesday,  April  19, 
1865,  A,  175,  176 ;  dirge  on  the 
death  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  A, 
258-260. 

Doring,  Charles,  band  of,  178, 
248,  249. 

Dorr,  Lieut.  Philip,  248. 

D'Orsay,  Count,  referred  to,  xv. 

Drowne,  Prof.  Charles,  chairman 
of  a  meeting,  102. 

Druids,  order  of,  251. 

Duke,  Lieut,  John,  248. 

Easter  Sunday,  extract  from  a 
sermon  preached  on,  32-35; 
reflections  on,  80,  81. 

Eaton,  Capt.  Thomas  B.,  secre 
tary  of  meeting  of  veteran  of 
ficers,  244,  245. 

Eddy,  Charles,  chairman  of  citi 
zens'  meeting,  30,  31. 

Egolf,  Maj.  Joseph,  chairman  of 
meeting  of  veteran  officers,  244, 
245. 


INDEX. 


337 


Elliott,  Rev.  David  T.,  service 
conducted  by,  19 ;  discourse  by, 
297-317. 

Emancipation  society,  meeting  in 
London,  under  the  auspices  of 
the,  xxxiv. 

English  abuse  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  xiv,  xy,  xxi,  xxii ;  English 
praise,  xxxiv -xl. 

English  prayer  book,  service 
adapted  from,  9  - 14. 

Episcopal  churches.  Bishop  Ho 
ratio  Potter's  letter  and  order 
of  services,  265  -  267.  Service 
at  Christ  Church,  80,  81,  330. 
Service  at  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  81,  330.  Service  at 
St.  John's  church,  9-14,  330; 
extract  from  a  sermon  preached 
at  St.  John's  church,  32-35. 
Discourse  at  St.  Paul's  church, 
268-279;  service  at  St  Paul's 
church,  330. 

Evans,  George,  editoral  article  by, 
2,3. 

Evans,  William,  president  of  the 
Emancipation  society  in  Lon 
don,  xxxiv. 

Exeter  hall  referred  to,  xxiii. 

Tales,  Alderman  Joseph,  93,  240, 
333. 

Farrell,  Col.  M.  A.,  247. 

Fenian  brotherhood,  251. 

Fenton,  Gov.  Reuben  E.,  procla 
mation  by,  28,  29. 

Fire  commissioners  of  Troy,  249. 

Fire  department,  252. 

First  Baptist  church,  service  at 
the,  79,  160,  161,  329,  330. 

First  Presbyterian  church,  ser 
vice  at  the,  15  - 18,  83,  161  ; 
sermon  in  the,  181  -  222 ;  confer 
ence  meeting  at  the,  331. 

Fitzgerald,  Alderman  Michael,  93, 
240. 

Fleming,  Alderman  James,  93, 
333. 

Folger,  H.  C.,  243. 

Ford's  theatre,  assassination  at,  2. 

Forster,  W.  E.,  member  of  parlia 
ment  for  Bradford,  speech  of, 
xxxv  -  xl. 

Francis,  John  M.,  article  by,  20- 
22. 

Francis  Joseph  referred  to,  287. 

Free  brother  lodge,  251. 


Galusha,  Henry,  motion  by,  243. 

Garnsey,  J.  Spencer,  243. 

Gerard,  Balthazar,  referred  to,  xii. 

German  brothers  association,  251. 

German  literary  society,  251. 

Gettysburg,  slander  concerning 
Lincoln  at,  refuted,  xxxiv. 

Gilbert,  Col.  B.  C.,  247. 

Gilbert,  Hon.  Uri,  mayor  of  Troy, 

•  messages  to  the  clergy  by,  8 ; 
remarks  of,  93,  94  ;  chairman  of 
a  committee,  96,  241 ;  signs  a 
request,  98  ;  announcement  by, 
99, 242  ;  note  to,  176,  177  ;  state 
ment  by,  240 ;  proclamation  by, 
267 ;  333. 

|  Gilbert,  William  E.,  chairman  of 
a  committee,  243 ;  on  committee 
to  draft  resolutions,  254. 
J  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way : 
a  hymn,  xxxvii,  14,  124. 

Good  Friday,  the  day  of  the  as 
sassination,  22,  86, 180,  296. 

Gould,  Hon.  George,  notice  of 
remarks  of,  102. 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.,  leaves  Wash 
ington  for  Burlington,  K  J., 
xxvi,  2. 

Gregory,  Rev.  D.  S.,  service  con 
ducted  bv,  19,  166  ;  sermon  by, 
47-66;  address  by,  127-135; 
notice  of  an  address  by,  331. 

Guard  of  honor,  invitation  to  the, 
241 ;  names  of  the,  246,  247. 

Hagan,  William,  chairman  on 
resolutions,  30,  31. 

Haight,  Alderman  Isaac  1ST.,  240, 
333. 

Hall,  B.  II.,  articles  by,  22,  23, 
260  -  265  ;  a  poem  by,  178  - 181. 

Hardin  county,  Lincoln  born  in, 
118,  306. 

Harmony  lodge,  251. 

Harrisburg,  obsequies  at,  x;  re 
ferred  to,  xix. 

Harrison,  William  H.,  death  of, 
referred  to,  105. 

Harrity,  Alderman  James,  93, 
240/333. 

Hartsfeld,  Frank,  address  by, 
158,  159  ;  remarks  of,  237,  238. 

Harugarie,  order  of,  251. 

Hastings,  Col.  John,  247. 

Hastings,  Geo.  S.,  private  secre 
tary  of  Gov.  Fenton,  29. 


338 


INDEX. 


Havermans,  Eev.  Peter,  service 
conducted  by,  19, 161, 162,  332 ; 
sermon  by,  84-86. 

Hawley,  Lieut.  Charles  E.,  248. 

Hawley,  J.  M.,  resolutions  by, 
30,  31. 

Hay,  Alderman  Gordon,  93,  240, 
333;  on  a  committee,  241. 

Hebrew,  prayers  translated  from 
the,  159,  160. 

Heilbron,  Rev.  Jonas,  notice  of 
address  by,  238. 

Hendrick,  Col.  James,  247. 

Henry  IV  of  France  referred  to, 
xii,  72, 139,  158,  159. 

Hibernian  provident  society,  251- 

Hislop,  Alderman  Thomas  T.,  93, 
240,  333. 

Hollister,  Martin  L.,  243. 

Holy  Cross,  Church  of  the,  ser 
vice  at  the,  81,  330. 

Homer's  Iliad,  reference  to,  223. 

Hubbell,  F.  B.,  articles  by,  24-26, 
255,  256. 

Hull,  Hiram,  chairman  of  board 
of  supervisors,  168. 

Hung  be  the  heavens  with  black  : 
an  article,  31,  32. 

Hunter,  W.,  announcement  by,  as 
acting  secretary  of  state,  87',  88  ; 
signs  the  President's  proclama 
tions,  240,  257. 

Hymn,  9,  14. 

Indiana,  Lincoln  removes  to,  119, 
140. 

Indianapolis,  obsequies  at,  x. 

In  memoriam  A.  L. :  a  poem,  178 
-181. 

Iron  moulders'  union,  251. 

Ives,  Capt.  Edward  A.,  248. 

Jewish  citizens,  resolutions  of  re 
spect  by,  98,  99  ;  service  at  the 
Jewish  synagogue  by,  157-  160, 
330. 

Johnson,  A.  G.,  article  by,  88  -  90. 

Johnson,  President  Andrew,  126; 
announcement  of  the  obsequies 
of  President  Lincoln  at  Wash 
ington  by,  87,  88;  proclamation 
by,  238  -  240,  256,  257. 

Johnson,  Rev.  D.  S.,  notice  of  a 
sermon  by,  331,  332. 

Kemp,  Alderman  William,  mo 
tion  by,  93  ;  resolutions  offered 
by,  94-  96  ;  on  a  committee,  96, 
241 ;  signs  a  request,  98 ;  240, 
333 


Kennedy,  Rev.  Duncan,  D  D., 
service  conducted  by,  19 ;  ad 
dress  by,  136  - 151 ;  notice  of  a 
discourse  by,  331. 

Kentucky  the  birth  place  of  Lin 
coln,  109,  118. 

Keveny,  Rev.  James,  notice  of 
remarks  of,  86,  162 ;  service 
conducted  by,  332. 

King  Henry  VIII,  extract  from 
Shakspeare's  play  of,  286. 

Kisselburgh,  W.  E.",  article  by,  90 
-92. 

Ksinsky,  A.,  chairman  of  a  meet 
ing  of  Jewish  citizens,  99. 

Landon,  Capt.  John  M.,  order  to, 
6,  178;  to  fire  a  salute,  101,  248. 

La  Vengeur,  the  sinking  of,  294. 

Le  Roy,'  Lieut.  Col.  John  L,  247. 

Lesson  from  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Matthew,  13. 

Lewis,  Charlton  T.,  address  by, 
279  -  296  ;  address  of,  noticed, 
330. 

Liberian  mission  referred  to,  41. 

Liberty  street  Presbyterian 
church,  sermon  in  the,  151  - 
157 ;  service  in  the,  332. 

Lichtensteine,  B.,  secretary  of  a 
meeting  of  Jewish  citizens,  99. 

Lisbon,  earthquake  at,  273,274. 

London,  meeting  of  sympathy  on 
the  death  of  Lincoln  in,  xxxiv. 

London  Spectator,  extract  from 
the,  207,  208. 

London  Star,  editorial  article  on 
Abraham  Lincoln  from  |the,  xi 
-  xvi ;  account  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  from  the,  xvii  -  xxxiv. 

Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  extract 
from  the  writings  of,  150. 

Louis  XVI  referred  to,  72. 

Loyal  league,  249. 
Me  Adam,  Rev.  Hugh  P.,  sermon 
of,  noticed,  166,   332;   sermon 
by,  318-329. 
Mac  Arthur,  C.  L.,  article  by,  31, 

32 
Macaulay,   Lord,    eulogium    by, 

113. 

McAuliffe,  Capt.  Timothy,  248. 
McConihe,  Col.  Isaac,  jr.,  regi 
mental  orders  of,  6,  7,  101,  177, 
178  ;  invitation  to,  240 ;  invita 
tion  by,  242 ;  order  of  thanks 
by,  253 ;  247. 


INDEX. 


339 


McConihe,  Capt.  William,  reso-i 
Intions  by,  244.  ! 

McLean,  Surgeon  Le  Roy,  247. 

McManus,  Alderman  Thomas, 
93,  240,  333;  on  a  committee, 
241. 

Manly,  Maj.  John,  247. 

Marat  referred  to,  72. 

Marvin,  Col.  S.  E.,  247. 

Merchant  of  Venice,  citation  from 
the,  274. 

Meredith,  Rev.  R.  R.,  citizens' 
meeting  addressed  by,  30 ;  no 
tice  of  sermon  by,  82,  83. 

Merritt,  Lieut.  Henry  A.,  248. 

Methodist  churches.  Sermon  in 
the  African  Methodist  church, 
43-47.  Service  at  the  North 
Second  street  Methodist  Epis 
copal  church,  82;  sermon,  116 
- 127 ;  330.  Service  at  the 
North  Troy  Methodist  Episco 
pal  church,  82,  83.  Sermon  in 
the  State  street  Methodist  Epis 
copal  church,  36-42,  223  -  229  ; 
service,  81,  82,  161,  330;  ad 
dress,  279-296.  Service  at  the 
Third  street  (South  Troy)  Meth 
odist  Episcopal  church,  19  ;  dis 
course,  297-317. 

Middleton's  life  of  Cicero,  ex 
tracts  from,  261  -264. 

Miller,  Gen.  Martin,  resolutions 
by,  166  - 168. 

Mirabeau  referred  to,  xv. 

Miserere  intoned,  19 ;  chanted, 
162,  163. 

Moore.  Adj.  Gurdon  G.,  regimen 
tal  orders  signed  by,  6,  7,  101, 
177,  178  ;  invitation  signed  by, 
242  ;  order  of  thanks  signed  bv, 
253 ;  248. 

Moran,  John,  recorder,  93 ;  on  a 
committee,  96 ;  signs  a  request, 
98  ;  motion  of,  240,  241,  333. 

Morris,  Alderman  Robert,  93, 240, 
333 ;  on  a  committee,  241. 

Mourning  for  Abraham  Lincoln, 
vii-xi. 

Muhlenberg,  Capt.  F.  P.,  247. 

Mulford,  Rev.  J.  N.,  address  by, 
80,  81 ;  service  conducted  by, 
330. 

Murphy,  Alderman  Edward,  jr., 
93. 

Myers,  Lieut.  John,  248. 


Napoleon  I  referred  to,  xv. 
Napoleon  III  referred  to,  xii,  287, 

288. 
Nason,  Prof.   H.  B.,  resolutions 

by,  102,  103. 
National  beravement,   The :    an 

article,  90-92. 

National     calamity    and    humi 
liation,  The:  an  article,  24-26. 
National  guard,    orders  of  the, 

6,  7,   177,   178,  253 ;    invitation 

from  the,  242 ;  organization  of 

the  twenty-fourth  regiment   of 

the,  247,  248. 

Neary,  Thomas,  remarks  by,  5, 6. 
North  Baptist  church,  service  at 

the,  19,  79,  80 ;  discourse  at  the, 

104-116. 
North  second    street    Methodist 

Episcopal    church,   service  at 

the,  82;  sermon  at  the,  116- 

127;  330. 
North  Troy  Methodist  Episcopal 

church,  service  at  the,  82,  83. 
Norton,  Captain  M.  L.,  247. 
Norton,   Alderman   Thomas,  93, 

333;  on  a  committee,  96;  signs 

a  request,  98. 

O'Brien,  Lieut.  William,  248. 
Obsequies  of  Abraham   Lincoln 

at  Albany,  245  -  254. 
Odd  Fellows,  Independent  order 

of,  252. 

Officers'  meeting,  245. 
Orsini  referred  to,  xii. 
Our  duty  on  this  day  :  an  article, 

22,  23. 

Oxford,  university  of,  viii. 
Palm  Sunday,  union  army  entered 

Richmond  on,  86. 
Palmerston,  Lord,  referred  to,  xv. 
Park  Presbyterian  church,  service 

at  the,  83 ;  notice   of  a  sermon 

at  the,  331,  332. 

Parks,  Rev.    S.,   delivers   an  ad 
dress,  161. 
Payne,    Capt.   Martin,    engineer, 

248. 

Peak,  Col.  C.  S.,  247. 
Pease,  A.  S.,  a  dirge  by,  175,  176. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  referred  to,  xv. 
Perkins,  Henry,   drum  corps  of, 

178,  249. 

Philadelphia,  obsequies  at,  x. 
Police  court,  proceedings  in  the, 

5,  6. 


340 


INDEX. 


Pomeroy,  Maj.  George,  247. 

Potter,  Rev.  Henry  C.,  D.D.,  ser 
vice  conducted  by,  9-14,  330; 
extract  from  a  sermon  by,  32  - 
35  ;  absence  of,  164 ;  chaplain, 
247,  248. 

Potter,  Right  Rev.  Horatio, D.D., 
bishop  of  New  York,  recom 
mendation  of,  29,  30 ;  letter  and 
order  of  services  by,  205  -  267 ; 
330. 

Powder  boy  at  Roanoke  island, 
294. 

Pratt,  Maj.  H.  C.,  247. 

Pratt,  Maj.  Gen.  T.  R.,  247. 

Prayers,  10 -.12,  14,  161,  162; 
translated  from  the  Hebrew, 
159,  160. 

Prentice,  Alderman  James  R.,  93, 
240 ;  on  a  committee,  241. 

Prime,  Rev.  Joseph  A.,  sermon 
by,  151-157  ;  service  conducted 
by  332. 

Proclamation  by  Governor  Fen- 
ton,  28,  29 ;  by  President  John 
son,  238-240,  256,  257;  by 
Mayor  Gilbert  of  Troy,  267. 

Pro  quacunque  tribulatione,  pray 
ers,  161,  162. 

Presbyterian  churches.  Service 
at  the  First  Presbyterian  church, 
15-18,  83,  161 ;  sermon  at  the, 
181  -  222  ;  conference  meeting  at 
the,  331.  Service  at  the  Second 
Presbyterian  church,  19,  166; 
sermon  at  the,  47  -  66 ;  address 
at  the,  127-135;  notice  of  ad 
dress  at  the,  331.  Service  at  the 
Second  street  Presbyterian 
church,  19  ;  address  at  the,  136 
- 151 ;  notice  of  discourse  at  the, 
331.  Service  at  the  United 
Presbyterian  church,  166,  332  ;- 
sermon  at  the,  318-329.  Ser 
vice  at  the  Park  Presbyterian 
church,  83  ;  notice  of-a  sermon 
at  the,  331,  332.  Sermon  at  the 
Liberty  street  Presbyterian 
church  (colored),  151  - 157 ;  ser 
vice  at  the,  332. 

Pullman,  Rev.  James  M.,  dis 
course  of,  referred  to,  86,  87. 

Quackenbush,  Capt,  John  H.,  248. 

Rapp,  Capt.  Christian  W.,  248. 

Ravaillac,  referred  to,  xii,  158, 159. 


Rathbone,  Brig.  Gen.  John  F., 
246 ;  brigade  of,  250. 

Recommendation  of  Bishop  Ho 
ratio  Potter,  29,  30. 

Rensselaer  county  board  of  su 
pervisors,  resolutions  of  the, 
166  - 168  ;  mentioned,  249. 

Rensselaer  county  court,  pro 
ceedings  in  the,  4,  5. 

Rensselaer  polytechnic  institute, 
proceedings  at  the,  101  - 103. 

Resolutions  at  citizens'  meeting, 
30,  31. 

Riley,  Lieut.  Michael,  248. 

Roanoke  island,  powder  boy  at, 
294. 

Robertson,  Hon.  Gilbert,  jr.,  ad 
dress  by,  4,  5. 

Robinson,  Brev.  Maj.  Gen.  John 
C.,  guard  of  honor  detailed  by, 
246,  247. 

Roman  catholic  churches.  Service 
at  St.  Joseph's  church,  86, 162  - 
164,  332.  Service  at  St.  Mary's 
church,  19,  84-86,  161,  161. 
332.  Service  at  St.  Peter's 
church,  86,  162,  332. 

Rousseau,  William  W.,  243. 

St.  Andrew's  society,  251. 

St.  George's  society,  251. 

St.  James's  hall,  meeting  of  sym 
pathy  on  the  death  of  Lincoln 
in,  xxxiv. 

St.  John's  church,  service  at,  9- 
14,  330 ;  extract  from  a  sermon 
preached  at,  32-35. 

St.  Joseph's  church,  service  at, 
86,  162-164,  332. 

St.  Joseph's  society,  251. 

St.  Mary's  church,  service  at,  19, 

161,  162,  332;  sermon  at,  84- 
86. 

St.  Matthew,  lesson  from  the  gos 
pel  of,"  13. 

St.  Nicholas  hall,  citizens'  meet 
ing  at,  30,  31. 

St.  Paul's  church,  discourse  at, 
268  -  279 ;  service  at  330. 

St.  Peter's  church,  service  at,  86, 

162,  332. 

St.  Peter's  society,  251. 

Salamon,  Rev.  H.  G.,  abstract  of 
sermon  by,  157 ;  notice  of  ad 
dress  by,  238. 

Schiller  grove,  251. 

Schoonmaker,  J.  E.,  243. 


INDEX. 


341 


Scott,  Capt.  I.  Seymour,  248. 

Scott,  Lieut.  Gen.  Winiield,  warns 
President  Lincoln,  xix ;  an  ex 
clamation  of,  308. 

Sears,  Alderman  Edwin,  93,  240. 

Second  Presbyterian  church,  ser 
vice  at  the,  19,  166 ;  sermon  at 
the,  47-66  ;  address  at  the,  127 
-135;  notice  of  an  address  at 
the,  331. 

Second  street  Presbyterian 
church,  service  at  the,  19 ;  ad 
dress  at  the,  136-151;  notice 
of  an  address  at  the,  331. 

Seward,  Frederick  W,  referred 
to,  xix,  xxvii. 

Seward,  William  H.,  attempt  to 
assassinate,  xi,  xii,  xxvii,  xxxv, 
1  -  3 ;  as  a  statesman,  26. 

Sheldon,  Rev.  C.  P.,D.D.,  service 
conducted  by,  19 ;  remarks  by, 
79,80;  discourse  by,  104-116. 

Sic  semper  tyrannis :  a  poem,  168, 
169. 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  account  of  the 
mourning  for,  viii. 

Smart,  Alderman  Robert  T.,  93, 
240. 

South  Troy  (Third  street)  Metho 
dist  Episcopal  church,  service 
at  the,  19  ;  discourse  at  the,  297 
-  317. 

Spencer  county,  Lincoln  removes 
to,  119. 

Springfield,  obsequies  at,  x ;  ex 
tract  from  Lincoln's  speech  at 
xix,  xx. 

Stannard,  Alderman  Henry  D., 
93,  240,  333. 

Stanton,  Alderman  John,  93, 240, 
333. 

Starbuck,  Alderman  Geo.  H.,  93, 
240,  333  ;  on  a  committee,  96  ; 
signs  a  request,  98  ;  motion  by, 
241. 

State  street  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  sketch  of  a  sermon  at 
the,  36-42;  service  at  the,  81, 
82,  161,  330;  sermon  at  the, 
223  -  229  ;  address  at  the,  279  - 
296. 

Staude,  Henry,  notice  of  address 
by,  238. 

Steenbergh,  Maj.  George  T.,  247. 

Stoddard,  Richard  H.,  extract 
from  a  poem  by,  204 


I  Stonehouse,  Col.  J.  B.,  247. 
i  Strong,  Col.  Charles,  247. 
|  Stuart,  George,  referred  to,  190. 
!  Stnrbridge,  centenarian  voter  at, 
68. 

Simmer,  Charles,  referred  to,  111. 

Swartwout,  Brev.  Maj.  H.  A.,  247. 
[  Talleyrand,  an  expression  of,  xiv ; 
his  wiliness,  201. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  death  of,  re 
ferred  to,  105. 

i  Tennyson,  Alfred,  quotation  from 
his  poem  In  Memoriam,  115, 
116;  extract  from  his  ode  on 
the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Wel 
lington,  222. 

Tenth  brigade  K  Y.  S.  K  G., 
order  to  the,  100,  101. 

Thebaud,  Rev.  Aug.  J.,  notice  of 

remarks  by,  86 ;    address  by, 

163  ;  service  conducted  by,  332. 

\  Thomas,  Rev.  Jacob,  sermon  by, 

43-47. 

i  Thomas,  Lieut.  Minott  A.,  248. 
!  Thompson,  Lieut.  Col.  Chas.  H., 
i      247. 

Thompson,  Lieut.  George  S.,248. 

Thorn,  James  S.,  poem  by,  27,  28 ; 
city  clerk,  96,  241,  333";  resolu 
tions  by,  254,  255 ;  article  by, 
257,  258;  243. 

Third  street  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  service  at  the,  19  ;  dis 
course  at  the,  297-317. 

Timpane,  Capt.  Michael,  248. 

Tiro  preserves  Cicero's  sayings, 
264,  265. 

To  everything  there  is  a  season : 
an  article,  257,  258. 

Townsend,  Brev.  Col.  Frederick, 
247. 

Townsend,  Martin  I.,  remarks  by, 
4;  address  by,  15-18. 

Tracey,  John,  chairman  of  a  com 
mittee,  177. 

Troy  Daily  Press,  articles  from 
the,  24-26, 255, 256  ;  dirge  from 
the,  175,  176. 

Troy  Daily  Times,  articles  from 
the,  20-23,  90-92,  169-175, 
257,  258 ;  poems  from  the,  27, 
28,  92,  93,  168,  169. 

Troy  Daily  Whig,  articles  from 
the,  2, 3, 88  -  90,  260  -  265  ;  dirge 
from  the,  258  -  260. 


342 


INDEX. 


Troy  News,  article  from  the,  31, 
32  ;  poem  from  the,  178-181. 

Troy  Young  Men's  association, 
meeting  of  the  executive  com 
mittee  of  the,  243  ;  resolutions 
of  the,  254,  255 ;  249,  251. 

Troy  Young  Men's  Christian  as 
sociation,  prayer  meeting  of 
the,  332. 

Tucker,  Rev.  J.  I.,  D.D.,  reference 
to  Easter  sermon  by,  81 ;  ser 
vice  conducted  by,  330. 

Tenth  regiment,  250. 

Twenty-fifth  regiment,  250 ; 
thanks  to  the,  253. 

Twenty-fourth  regiment,  regi 
mental  orders  to  the,  6,  7,  101, 
177,  178 ;  invitation  from  the, 
242, 244;  field,  staff  and  line  offi 
cers  of  the,  247,  248 ;  returns 
thanks,  253 ;  250. 

Typographical  union,  251. 

Union  league,  251. 

Unitarian  church,  sermons  at  the, 
66  -  78,  229  -  237 ;  service  at  the, 
332. 

United  Presbyterian  church,  ser 
vice  at  the,  166,  332 ;  sermon  at 
the,  318-329. 

Universalist  church,  service  at 
the,  86,  87. 

Upham,  Capt.  Moses  A.,  248. 

Vail,  Lieut,  Ezra  R.,  248. 

Vanderbilt  steamboat,  244,  249, 
252. 

Van  Santvoord,  Mrs.  E.,  poem  by, 
92,  93. 

Veteran  officers,  meeting  of,  244, 
245. 

Victor  Emanuel  referred  to,  287, 
288. 


Vincent,  Rev.  Marvin  R.,  service 
conducted  by,  15  - 18,  331 ;  no 
tice  of  sermon  by,  83 ;  remarks 
by,  161 ;  sermon  by,  181  -  222. 

Warren,  Prof.  S.  Edward,  resolu 
tions  by,  102,  103. 

Washington,  obsequies  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  at  the  city  of,  x. 

Washington,  George,  death  of, 
referred  to,  104,  105. 

Weeks,  Capt.  George  H.,  247. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  extract  from 
an  ode  on  the  death  of  the,  222. 

Wells,  D.  A.,  citizens'  meeting 
addressed  by,  30. 

Wentworth,  Rev.  Erastus,  D.D., 
remarks  by,  81,  82, 161 ;  sermon 
by,  223  -  229  ;  service  conducted 
by,  330. 

Wesley,  John,  referred  to,  68. 

White,  Capt.  William  E.,  notice 
by,  245. 

Wickes,  Asa  W.,  aid-de-camp, 
101. 

Willard,  Clarence,  President  of 
the  Troy  Young  Men's  associ 
ation,  243. 

William,  Prince  of  Orange  re 
ferred  to,  xii,  41,  42,  139 ;  Lin 
coln  compared  to,  200. 

William  Tell  lodge,  251. 

Winne,  Lieut.  Gabriel  T.,  248. 

Wolfe,  Lieut.  Gurdon  G.,  248. 

Wool,  Maj.  Gen.  John  E.,  ad 
dress  by,  96,  97;  his  conduct 
praised,  309. 

Young,  Josiah  L.,  246 ;  a  dirge 
by,  258 -260. 

Young,  Col.  W.  H.,  246. 

Zion  church,  sermon  in  the  Afri 
can  Methodist  Episcopal,  43  - 
47. 


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